Matt Dawson column: Frustrated fans must give England more time
- Published
I understand why some fans might be frustrated after England's Six Nations win against Italy.
Obviously they will celebrate the victory - England's second in seven games at Twickenham - but there are only so many games like that where supporters will just enjoy the fact that they have won.
There were certain points in the game where fans were willing their side to run the ball back at Italy, instead of booting it up into the air, and you could feel the slight frustration from the crowd.
I get that, but supporters have got to give England a bit more time for new head coach Steve Borthwick and the team to gel after just two games together.
I am not saying they should get a free pass for the rest of the tournament, but a couple more games would give them a chance to find some more flow.
Six Nations 2023: England 31-14 Italy - highlights
Where England's maul-heavy win against Italy felt like it was going so slowly, Ireland's thrilling victory against France on Saturday went by in a flash.
It is the flow England are seeking that makes Ireland so dangerous. They have an incredible connection, but it is not like world number one team Ireland have all of a sudden become good.
Ireland have a core of players from club Leinster. That is going to help.
They have been building their pattern so that everyone knows where they should be and what they should do in each scenario.
Ireland's play is so pacy. There is no hesitancy, whereas with England you can see the split-second thought process of some of the players and it is not instinctive.
England are not quite there and we cannot expect them to be there right now.
'Right to separate Smith and Farrell'
On top of claiming their first victory under Borthwick, England looked like they had progressed from last week's defeat by Scotland.
Their defence was really impressive. It was very disciplined, swarming the opposition and giving them no time for their star players to get going.
The set-piece was dominant and their line-out drive produced tries.
Six Nations 2023: Former Scotland captain John Barclay is "confused" by England's attack
Borthwick's big selection call was playing captain Owen Farrell at fly-half instead of inside centre and dropping Marcus Smith to the bench.
Ollie Lawrence came in at 12 and Henry Slade returned from injury at outside centre.
It had to be either Smith or Farrell at fly-half. Playing both of them together was not working.
Farrell and Lawrence brought a completely different dynamism to the game and the England captain dictated pretty well.
This would never have happened but it would have been interesting to have one half of Farrell at 10 and one half with Smith at 10 to see how things change.
That 9-10-12 combination with Jack van Poortvliet is more akin to what Smith has got at Harlequins with Andre Esterhuizen and Danny Care. It would have been interesting to see but I thought Farrell played alright.
England took step forward against Italy - Borthwick
'England's attack impatient'
I thought overall the midfield worked really well. Lawrence was building in confidence as the minutes went by, busting through and creating fantastic quick-ball.
The issue was that England were not managing to get the rest of the backline on the ball - like Slade, Freddie Steward and Ollie Hassell-Collins.
England's attack was a bit impatient. Their tactic was to kick the ball away in the opposition 22 rather than going through extra phases and I am not convinced by that.
There are a lot of good players in that England side that can manipulate the opposition with fantastic skill, as we saw when Alex Mitchell and Henry Arundell combined for England's fifth try. Kicking that ball away turns it into a bit of a lottery sometimes.
If we say in the whole process from set-piece to try there are six or seven parts, England have got three or four of them. It is a good foundation. I would not necessarily change selection to fix that.
There is a rest week now, so they have two weeks together to develop that and be ready for their trip to Cardiff on 25 February.
'England can create opportunities against France'
The problem for England in that fixture is how heavily Wales lost to Scotland this weekend - 35-7.
In two weeks' time, Wales are going to be so revved up because of that. England are going to be favourites, Wales will have their backs against the wall at the Principality Stadium and will love being the underdogs.
Beyond that, England have France at home then travel to Dublin on the final weekend.
I would fancy England at home at the moment because of their dominance up front and their defence against Italy.
When you are at home, if you have got those as your fundamentals you have a good chance.
If England put France under that sort of pressure defensively then there are going to be opportunities.
I cannot imagine that England would kick so many penalties to the corner against France - they will take three points when they can.
Going away to Ireland, right now I do not think Ireland would lose to anyone in the world at home.
It will be England's last competitive game before the World Cup and they are playing against the number one team in the world.
The motivation for that game will be easy. If they want to compete in that World Cup, they have to be capable of beating Ireland.
Matt Dawson was speaking to BBC Sport's Becky Grey.