yesYou know it’s a long rugby league season that feels like it’s starting in a parallel universe. Was Fin Baxter born when Steve Borthwick’s squad assembled for their first pre-World Cup training camp on June 12 last year? Are those distant August warm-up tests some kind of tortured fever dream? No one can accuse England of not investing heavily in the last 13 months.
This is a bit difficult. At some point, we can all forget that sports are being played by humans, not robots, because we’re sitting in the stands or on the couch 12,000 miles away (not for another few years, anyway). We can only see a recent snapshot, not the entire moon. So if England did falter a bit in the final quarter against New Zealand, whose fault was it? Tired players, desperate to keep picking on their coaches, or most importantly, the ridiculous quart-to-pint jug demands of global rugby fixtures?
For some people, this answer is basically redundant. Test rugby remains a results-oriented industry, with England taking many players to Japan and New Zealand who never actually get on the field. Sticking with Maro Itoje, who exceeded the presumptive maximum player benefit threshold for the season in the first test, which is not contractually required. No pain, no gain. In this series, the team lost 2-0 to the All Blacks, who were rebuilding under new management.
But hang in there. Think not of what England achieved in the mists of the summer of 2023, but of the limited game plan they pursued. The boos at Twickenham after the loss to Fiji? In the final stage of the World Cup group stage, George Ford’s goal loss and Joe Marler’s header “assist” were almost the pinnacle of England’s offensive ambitions. It wasn’t even five months ago that it was a disastrous defeat in Scotland. Then ask yourself: Regardless of the series outcome, have England made any progress over the past year?
Anyone with a keen eye and foresight will definitely say the former. Do you really watch Immanuel? Fay Waboso thought: Same old, same old? Chandler Cunningham-South, George Martin, Alex Mitchell, Tommy Freeman and, in the first Test, George Furbank Furbank) too? Or watch Ollie Sleightholme skinning a terrified Sevu Reece outside and conclude that this new-age England side has reached its peak?
As Borthwick freely admits, there are several important areas that urgently need to be addressed. It goes without saying that The Tension Pillars is one of them: someone has to hold up the crumbling edifice of British chaos, and even the venerable Dan Cole, now 37, can’t play the role of King Louis in The Jungle Book forever . More influence from Beauden Barrett off the bench – another area of strength for the All Blacks in a tense series – will also be near the top of Borthwick’s summer agenda.
Rewind the tape, though, and as well as Fletcher Newell destroying England’s scrum with six minutes remaining, we can also look at Barrett’s post-match glow, A respectful handshake, which left a lasting impression on Sleitholm. Then back to November this year, the All Blacks will be back in action at Twickenham. New Zealand have just begun their own brutal globe-trotting program of 14 Tests in 21 weeks, playing against newcomers in hostile conditions with a hobnail boot on the other foot. Perhaps it would be better to judge Borthwick’s England side after this and in their subsequent autumn fixtures against Australia, South Africa and Japan.
Because no one can dispute that England, as has been said before in these columns, need to turn narrow defeat into victory sooner rather than later. Four defeats in the past six Tests show that even if the likes of Courtney Lawes, Owen Farrell, Vuni Bolas, Ben Youngs, Danny Care and others no longer play, they still have the talent Obvious progress. If anyone can figure out a way to reintegrate France’s Jack Willis and Henry Arundell into Borthwick’s squad – both originally signed for the English club Bankruptcy and exile, which is by definition a special case – may also help.
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But if I were Borthwick, I would also stress to his players that the 2-0 series result is not the only takeaway from this Test series. All it takes is three points almost in front of the sticks in the first Test and a late penalty at Eden Park and the Hillary Shield could be England’s.
So if you’re on the beach this summer and encounter a glassy-eyed Red Rose player staring dejectedly into his pina colada, or pull up to the aforementioned Baxter’s program in New Zealand in the coming weeks Be gentle with him next to the camper that drives everywhere. The focus is less on the frustrations of last quarter than on the excitement that comes with Tests in New Zealand and Japan and the second half of the Six Nations against Ireland and France.
And, once they disappear back into their well-deserved hammocks, rethink the ultimate purpose of movement. If a team reinvents itself in the public eye, re-engages with thousands of previously prejudiced fans, gives its all from the first whistle to the last minute, and is led by decent people who clearly care about the team, And commit to learning from your mistakes, will you judge? How will it read in a year or two? Or do you just see the endless crescent moon that is out of reach?
