Slumping England heads to Rugby World Cup with big players suspended and as a title outsider
Slumping England heads to Rugby World Cup with big players suspended and as a title outsider
FILE - England’s head coach Steve Borthwick, left, with Owen Farrell before a start for the international rugby union match between Ireland and England, at Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 19, 2023. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison, File)
FILE - England’s Marcus Smith reacts after scoring a try during the rugby union international match between England and Fiji at Twickenham stadium in London, on Aug. 26, 2023. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
FILE - England’s head coach Steve Borthwick watches on as players practise a scrum ahead of the Six Nations rugby union international match between England and France, at Twickenham Stadium in London, England, on March 11, 2023. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere. (AP Photo/Ian Walton, File)
FILE - England’s Marcus Smith holds the ball as he is tackled by South Africa’s Faf de Klerk during the international rugby match between England and South Africa at Twickenham stadium in London, on Nov. 26, 2022. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
FILE - England’s head coach Steve Borthwick, left, with Owen Farrell before a start for the international rugby union match between Ireland and England, at Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 19, 2023. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison, File)
FILE - England’s head coach Steve Borthwick, left, with Owen Farrell before a start for the international rugby union match between Ireland and England, at Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 19, 2023. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison, File)
FILE - England’s Marcus Smith reacts after scoring a try during the rugby union international match between England and Fiji at Twickenham stadium in London, on Aug. 26, 2023. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
FILE - England’s Marcus Smith reacts after scoring a try during the rugby union international match between England and Fiji at Twickenham stadium in London, on Aug. 26, 2023. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
FILE - England’s head coach Steve Borthwick watches on as players practise a scrum ahead of the Six Nations rugby union international match between England and France, at Twickenham Stadium in London, England, on March 11, 2023. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere. (AP Photo/Ian Walton, File)
FILE - England’s head coach Steve Borthwick watches on as players practise a scrum ahead of the Six Nations rugby union international match between England and France, at Twickenham Stadium in London, England, on March 11, 2023. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere. (AP Photo/Ian Walton, File)
FILE - England’s Marcus Smith holds the ball as he is tackled by South Africa’s Faf de Klerk during the international rugby match between England and South Africa at Twickenham stadium in London, on Nov. 26, 2022. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
FILE - England’s Marcus Smith holds the ball as he is tackled by South Africa’s Faf de Klerk during the international rugby match between England and South Africa at Twickenham stadium in London, on Nov. 26, 2022. Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation. The English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
Rarely has England gone into a Rugby World Cup with so little external expectation.
Three times a finalist — and once a winner — in the last five editions of the tournament, the English have long been Europe’s big hope on the global stage and the team that most concerned the big guns from the southern hemisphere.
No more.
Overtaken by Ireland, France and — whisper it — Scotland since the 2019 World Cup, England is run by the world’s richest rugby union but currently doesn’t have elite-level players or coach to show for it.
Steve Borthwick is the man in charge following the departure late last year of Eddie Jones, the colorful Australian coach with whom the Rugby Football Union and seemingly England’s players ran out of patience.
Borthwick was solid if unspectacular as a player, more of a workhorse than someone with a highlights reel on YouTube. Conservative can best describe his approach as a coach, too, and his kick-pressure game plan is hardly making England’s class of 2023 a must-watch.
To be fair to Borthwick, he doesn’t have a surfeit of world-class players at his disposal. England typically arrives at a World Cup with an overpowering bunch of forwards and a dominant set-piece, but not this year.
The back division, meanwhile, is light on difference-makers and lacks identity, with exciting flyhalf Marcus Smith — someone Jones identified as the future — not first-choice under Borthwick and likely to be a bench-filler with an X-factor.
Then there’s the discipline issues that have dogged the English during the World Cup warmup games, with captain Owen Farrell and No. 8 Billy Vunipola suspended for the opening two pool games for dangerous tackles committed against Wales and Ireland, respectively.
Given those pool games are against Argentina in Marseille on Sept. 9 and Japan in Nice on Sept. 17 and probably the toughest England will have in pool play, their absence couldn’t come at a worse time, robbing Borthwick of valuable leadership and experience. Vunipola was the only No. 8 picked in the squad.
Borthwick should be thankful, then, for England being on the right side of the draw. Beat either of Argentina or Japan and a place in the quarterfinals looks likely given Chile and Samoa are the other opponents in Pool D, even if Samoa — ranked No. 12 in the world — will fancy its chances.
Then, Australia, Wales or Fiji likely lies in wait. England could yet get to the semifinals without having to play any team in the top five in the world rankings.
However, this is a team that has won just four of its last 13 games — England’s final World Cup warmup match was a first-ever loss to Fiji, 30-22 at Twickenham — and has finished fifth, third and fourth in the last three editions of the Six Nations. England has just dropped to No. 8 in the world ranking — tied for its lowest position in the standing’s 20-year history.
Meanwhile, winger Anthony Watson — one of the team’s senior and most impactful players in the back division — was a late withdrawal from the squad because of injury.
No longer can England be sure of getting out of its pool, never mind going deep at a World Cup.
The three losses — against Wales, Ireland and then Fiji — in four World Cup warmups were demoralizing and showed just how far this England team has fallen compared to one that outplayed New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semifinals in one of the team’s greatest performances.
England fans might have to wait until the World Cup in 2027 to hit those dizzying heights again.
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby