Former England scrumhalf Danny Care has launched a scathing assessment of his country’s performance against the Springboks at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Care says the 45-21 defeat exposed deep-rooted problems, warning that Steve Borthwick’s side cannot hope to beat the world’s best while repeatedly undermining themselves.
England conceded seven tries and went 17-0 down inside the opening 12 minutes. They also had to do without two yellow-carded players late in the game.
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“You’ve got to go and be brave to try to win in South Africa,” Care told ITV4. “Unfortunately, we weren’t brave enough.”
Care reserved his strongest criticism for England’s discipline, which he believes has become a defining weakness.
“England’s discipline again is an absolute achilles heel,” he said. “That’s over 100 minutes of play now in six matches that England haven’t had 15 men on the field.
“They’ve conceded 95 points in that 100 minutes. So over a full Test match, they’re playing with an arm behind their back. They really are. You cannot expect to win Test matches against the big teams like that.”
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The defeat extended England’s losing run to five Tests, and Care warned that anything less than victories in their next two matches would only increase the scrutiny on Borthwick and his coaching team.
“That’s five losses in a row now; it can’t be six or seven, it really can’t,” he said. “Nothing other than England winning the next two games for me is acceptable.
“The Six Nations was their worst Six Nations in history; that wasn’t acceptable. If they play well against Fiji and go to Argentina and win, then I think you’ve taken the learnings.
“If we don’t, then I worry there are a lot of questions that are going to be asked again.”
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Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
The post Borthwick blasted after Bok humiliation appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Former England scrumhalf Danny Care has launched a scathing assessment of his country’s performance against the Springboks at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The post Borthwick blasted after Bok humiliation appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
