By Charlie Elliott
After a good performance in the first half, England faltered against Ireland and succumbed to a comfortable defeat, despite the late flourish to earn a bonus-point.
Plenty went right, but plenty also went wrong.
With tournament favourites France up next at Twickenham, here are five changes that England need to make in order to improve.
1 – Adapt to France’s kicking game
Although Steve Borthwick deserves credit for the breakdown-focused approach against Ireland, it needs to change ahead of France.
The visitors are going to maintain a kick-first approach it seems, meaning that England don’t need to have players attcking the breakdown and instead, need counter-attacking players who will run at the defence.
Despite the very good first half, the tactic met its demise in the second because the replacements chosen could not replicate the same style of play, which led to a shift which Ireland ultimately capitalised on.
Should the back row have been more balanced, the huge shift in style of play wouldn’t have happened and England would have been more consistent throughout.
Overall, the tactic worked for portions but was one of the main factors behind the eventual defeat but needs to be scrapped entirely to deal with the different threat that France poses.
2- Accept the gulf in quality
It seems as if Borthwick is still insistent on going toe-to-toe with opponents, something which is no longer viable.
Ireland and France are both much better than England in terms of most metrics and to try and beat them by going man-for-man just doesn’t work.
The coaching staff need to accept that they are the underdogs and play as such, instead of trying to exert authority on the game which won’t work given the gulf in class.
Of course, it doesn’t mean standing off France and giving them too much time on the ball, but just being aware that they are better can go a long way, which is something that Borthwick seems reluctant to admit.
3- If it’s not broken, don’t fix it
In terms of substitutions, it seems as if sometimes they are made for the sake of it instead of being a result of a genuine problem on the pitch.
It is almost as if an alarm goes off on Borthwick’s watch and regardless of what is happening, subs are made.
A saying that has been around for years is ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’, which England needs to start following.
Fresh legs are essential at a certain point, but often things appear to be changed just because of the time on the clock.
Ollie Chessum and Chandler Cunningham-South coming on was not a bad decision but doing it at once seemed a bit strange and the game turned from that point onwards.
Although not against Ireland, a perfect example was in the Autumn when George Ford came on for Marcus Smith against the All Blacks, which killed all momentum that Smith had and led to them losing the game.
4- Rethink the midfield
Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence were not bad, but it is now time to rethink the midfield.
Tommy Freeman is being massively underutilised in this system and could provide the perfect partner to Lawrence and an upgrade on Slade.
Partnering Lawrence’s power with a defter touch like Freeman could bring out the best in both of them.
Bundee Aki against Slade was a huge mismatch and should have never happened.
It is baffling that Borthwick continues to stick with this partnership despite recent history suggesting that it simply is not working.
If not Freeman, start Fraser Dingwall, just change it in some way, shape or form to get some new life into the side.
5- Start blooding in young players
On the subject of new life into the team and following on from the acceptance of where England are, more young players need to be blooded in.
Realistically, Steve Borthwick’s side were never going to win the competition this year, so why not give more opportunities to some of the best prospects in the country?
Giving Cadan Murley a debut was a step in the right direction, but with him being 25-years-old, it is hard to call him a youngster.
Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Henry Pollock especially could benefit from some serious minutes against top-notch opponents and seem ready for the task, given how well they have done in the Premiership.
If it went wrong for them, at worst it is a harsh learning experience, but could well provide the foundations for very strong Test careers.
The likelihood is that France beat England relatively comfortably, so Borthwick might as well make it beneficial in the long run.
READ MORE: Six Nations Team of the Week: France run riot against Wales