England's incremental progress obscured by run of defeats

Seven defeats in 11 games in 2024, five in a row and three in succession at Twickenham has a horrible look for England but, as coach Steve Borthwick keeps insisting, they are probably not that far away from switching that painful record around.

Saturday’s 29-20 loss to South Africa followed a last-gasp defeat by Australia and three close New Zealand losses, so the quality of the opposition, as Borthwick also pointed out, has been high.

In all five of those games, England played good rugby, showing far more attacking intent and finishing quality than in their kicking-based drive to the World Cup semifinals just over a year ago.

"This year has been one of transitioning a lot of young players into this England team, which I think have an incredibly exciting future and it's also transitioning the way we're trying to play," Borthwick said.

"You can see when the team moves the ball, you see the talent and pace that we have... we just have to make all those moments count and I'm very confident about our trajectory."

England certainly played their part in a rip-roaring first half on Saturday, though their tries by Ollie Sleightholme and Sam Underhill were more than cancelled out by a burst of three Springbok tries in 10 minutes.

The hosts got their noses in front with a 52nd-minute Marcus Smith penalty but that proved to be their only score of the second half, despite spending a huge amount of time in and around the South Africa 22 and the world champions being down to 14 for 10 minutes.

Borthwick identified that failure to turn territory and pressure into points as the key reason they failed to get over the line, and he, more than anyone, is well aware that it is just the latest in a long line of late-game losses.

The coach’s replacement policy undoubtedly plays a part in that. Although on Saturday he finally trusted Smith to stay at flyhalf throughout, he again removed hooker and captain Jamie George after an hour.

LEADERSHIP GROUP

Both men of course insisted that there was still plenty of leadership in the group, but routinely removing your captain and a vastly experienced serial winner for his club, and seeing your team throw away leads to lose, as they have in their last six matches against Tier One opposition, is starting to look like more than a coincidence.

England contributed to their own downfall, with missed tackles, bungled lineouts and, almost comically, being charged down twice within seconds to cough up South Africa’s second try.

George, however, said it was wrong to try to find a theme to England losing three in a row at home for the first time in 18 years.

"We are looking at three very different games and probably three different reasons as to why we lost," he said.

England's 2003 World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward said the decision to kick for touch rather than taking a shot at goal that would have trimmed the deficit to six points with plenty of time to go was naive.

"England can name all the leaders they want, but it’s irrelevant because nobody on the pitch can get the big calls right," Woodward said.

"They weren't miles off and could and perhaps should have won all three matches this month. But the reason they haven’t is down to the fact that they cannot get the big moments right."

No doubt suppressing a smile at England's struggles is another former coach, Eddie Jones, who will be back at Twickenham on Sunday in charge of Japan.

Jones was sacked after overseeing what was considered an unacceptable six defeats and a draw in 12 games in 2022 - better than Borthwick's 2024 record even if, as expected, England stop the rot on Sunday.