I still think England could surprise a few

JEFF PROBYN

A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME

SO here we are again, losing a player as a result of an over enthusiastic poor tackle technique, despite the warning to all players following the Owen Farrell incident against Wales.

We all assumed that, following World Rugby's appeal, Farrell's red card would be reintroduced but he got a still surprisingly short ban of just three games, four if we include the game he withdrew from before the hearing. Although I am pleased that his ban is short enough for him to still play a major part in the World Cup, it does seem wrong that a player can offset part of his ban to a game that has been played before his hearing has taken place.

I wonder if World Rugby will allow other players to now use games they don't play in to reduce bans that may be inflicted on them in the future. If so, Billy Vunipola, who received a three-match ban because of a number of mitigating factors, reduced to two if he completes a World Rugby coaching programme on tackling, should also be free to play, given the number of games he has missed in the recent past.

I think Steve Borthwick must be thinking to himself thankfully the warm-up games are over and that his captain Farrell has received such a short ban given the lack of any mitigation on his part and admitting foul play but saying he thought it was not worthy of a red card. Plus the fact he has been subject to a number of previous incidents and been banned in the past.

It was the man who effectively won England the World Cup in 2003, Richard Smith KC, who managed to get Farrell's bunker red reversed back to yellow, only for World Rugby to appeal.

It was Clive Woodward who was the first England coach to think of hiring a lawyer to help with disciplinary issues, and it turned out to be a saviour for the squad in 2003. England fielded a 16th player, Dan Luger, in direct opposition to the match official's instructions in the pool game against Samoa and was forced to face a discipline committee for the offence.

This was a serious matter as England faced the threat of a points deduction which would have changed who they had to face in the quarter- and semi-finals.

And it would have meant facing New Zealand in the last eight and then Australia in the semi-final rather than Wales and France.

Smith ensured that the punishment was just a dressing down and a fine of £10,000 instead of a points deduction which led to England securing their favoured route to the final they won.

In last week's game Ireland showed how hard England will need to work to make it out of their pool this time round even though there are just two teams that hold a possible threat albeit an unlikely threat – Argentina and Japan. Both play a different style of rugby and will offer different threats to an England side that seems to lack confidence and direction and yet still have time to change that despite the RWC kicking off in just two weeks.

Red marks: Billy Vunipola smashes into Andrew Porter and, left, Owen Farrell

PICTURES: Getty Images

I had hoped yesterday's game against Fiji would have given England the chance to cut loose and perhaps play the game they have been trying to find over the last few weeks but Fiji had other ideas. They were in determined mood and recorded their first win over England to leave even more problems at Borthwick's door.

Looking forward, the indiscipline that has seen the side under-perform must be replaced with control and enthusiasm at the World Cup for a style of game that encompasses the need to open the space for the backs to exploit. If they can do this, coaches should be able to tweak the parts of the game where the players seem to be unable to fire at the moment.

It could even be the reason that Maro Itoje feels the need to celebrate even the smallest success by back slapping his team-mates and whooping if they win a penalty or turnover in an effort to raise spirits after the constant put downs in the press.

However, as I wrote when Borthwick took over from Eddie Jones at the start of the year, this is his first attempt at leading an England team to a World Cup and it has been a road of discovery for him as much as it has been for the players.

With all his previous experience at international level being either as a player or an assistant coach, this is his first crack at taking a team and all its fans' hopes and expectations to such an elite competition.

Whatever happens in France this time – where I still think England may surprise many and possibly Borthwick himself – I hope he has made sure he gets a second chance, particularly as he has only taken control for just over nine months. It would make him the second England coach to take England to two World Cups.

As then, and only then, would he be able to draw on the experience of having built a World Cup squad and dealing with the myriad of challenges that involves, in the same way Woodward did for his second successful attempt after suffering a quarter-final knockout in 1999.