Matt Dawson column: 'England don't have a prayer of winning World Cup playing how they are'
- Published
This is the most prepared underperforming England side there has ever been going into a World Cup.
We can't neglect the fact there are plenty of resources, lots of coaches and loads of training time. I don't believe there can be an excuse.
It does not take eight months to coach a side to deliver that kind of performance against Fiji. It was like it was Steve Borthwick's first game in charge and the players weren't sure how to play together.
They are significantly underperforming for how long they have been together.
We want them to do well but we just want to see a bit of needle and bodies on the line. We want to see them absolutely going to the well physically and emotionally but they do not have a prayer of winning the World Cup playing how they are now.
'Not enough accountability'
When they want to, England have good line speed, they make good tackles and they are organised.
But they give away loads of penalties and loads of possession so it is really difficult to defend. I think it stems more from the way they attack and giving up the ball cheaply.
The lack of attack from England is actually creating more opportunities for the opposition but my focus is on the individuals.
When you are dropping the ball or giving sloppy penalties away, or you're running bad lines and getting hit hard behind the gain line, they are individual errors.
I have beaten the drum about this for years and years, but when England make mistakes on the pitch, it doesn't look to me like there is enough accountability. I just want to see that on the pitch.
There are times when you need to give your partner a high five and pat people on the back, but you are only on the pitch for 80 minutes and you can't pat people on the back for the whole time.
Those that have been in those scenarios can see there is no accountability where a senior player says 'listen that has to stop right now, get on with it, clear your head'.
Or when a coach drags a player off. I'm not going to say I was the biggest Eddie Jones fan but one of the things that I would like was when he hooked one of them if something wasn't working.
Everything looks a bit cosy but this is all perception. I'm not in the camp and I'm well aware of that, so I'm very prepared for people to challenge me.
'Why not try Marcus Smith at full-back?'
Marcus Smith came off the bench to score England's second try from full-back
Owen Farrell hasn't been playing with enough impact at 10 as that first receiver for England.
George Ford and Marcus Smith have enormous impact and decision-making ability. Why not try Smith at full-back and move Freddie Steward in the midfield?
Like New Zealand have with Beauden Barrett and moved him around a bit.
All of a sudden Smith is in the backfield and he is having opportunities to join the line and be a second ball receiver. He can come in at 10 now and again and help George Ford out, which all top sides would love to have.
What have England got to lose? Something has to happen and it has to be more left field.
'Give them the fright of their lives'
If I was in that camp, I would be loving it because everyone is writing us off. What have we got to lose? Something has to change but let's rally around.
There is a huge amount of pride and talent in that England side.
Everyone is writing them off and saying they have no chance but it's a huge motivating factor, and in their favour is this draw.
They have only got to beat Argentina and Japan and both of those sides will be confident they can beat England.
Give them the fright of their lives that will ripple through the rest of the teams in the World Cup.
There is no reason why they shouldn't be in a semi-final. As bad as it was against Fiji they still have the opportunity to get into a World Cup semi-final.