England are ‘tough to watch’ and close to 'crisis' after latest loss to South Africa, say Ugo Monye and Courtney Lawes
By Rhys Jones
Updated 20/11/2024 at 15:39 GMT
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England slumped to a fifth loss in a row after being beaten by South Africa 29-20 at Allianz Stadium on Saturday. Questions will once again be asked of Steve Borthwick after moments of poor discipline combined with an incapability of turning possession into points proved costly. The Springboks were under the cuff for much of the second half, but were gifted easy exits by England.
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Ugo Monye claimed England are on the verge of a "crisis" after another loss in the Autumn Nations Series.
The Red Roses' latest defeat against South Africa was again defined by their inability to make their chances pay when on top.
England suffered a fifth loss on the bounce, a damning fact for Steve Borthwick, even though the defeats have come against New Zealand, Australia, and now South Africa.
England matched South Africa for physicality and often won the breakdown battle, as well as employing a kicking game that took full advantage of the skill sets of Tommy Freeman, Ollie Sleightholme and Freddie Steward.
But ill-discipline and costly mistakes handed the game to a Springboks side who were trapped in their own territory for long periods of the second half.
TNT Sports pundits and former England internationals Courtney Lawes and Ugo Monye gave their verdict on the team's predicament.
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“Its too early in the year to be a crisis. We’ve got time," Lawes said,
“It’s always a build-up to the World Cup and, yes, there are things you want to win in between that, but this is the start of a new campaign and we’ve got to give them a chance.”
Monye, meanwhile, suggested a crisis is only around the corner should things continue as they are.
“It’s not far from a crisis," he said. "We’re going to end this Autumn Nations one out of four. That’s awful. When we look at this year, we’ll have won four out of 10 matches.
"For a team that wants to win a World Cup, that was in a World Cup semi-final, that was in a World Cup final, this is so substandard from where we want our team to be."
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Speaking immediately after the full-time whistle, Lawes was critical of England's inability to get over the line.
"It's tough to watch," he explained. "Ultimately we're not cohesive enough as a team. We're not cohesive in defence, we're not cohesive in attack so we end up on the wrong side of the scoreboard too often.
"We've got a lot of young players that are trying to gain experience as they go but what we've got to make sure we do have is that real consistency from our leaders in the team. They've got to lead the team with their consistency.
"At the minute we're seeing a few too many mistakes from some of the leaders in the team which then kind of goes on to the younger players and makes them a bit more anxious. We're not seeing these boys play freely.
"We've got the talent in England, we just have to get it out the boys. We have to find the team, we have to find our DNA and at the minute we're not seeing that."
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Later on, Lawes added: "From my experience, stepping into a crisis doesn't help you. We've got problems to solve, one of the big ones being defence. Defence for us in terms of cohesion, we're nowhere near. We're not getting any double tackles, we're falling off tackles left, right and centre, and that's not good enough for an international team.
"We can fix these things given a bit of time and finding out what exactly we want to accomplish as a team. What is our goal and how do we want to get to our goal?"
Matches between England and South Africa have often been defined by moments: Handre Pollard’s nerveless penalty in the final minutes of the World Cup semi-final in 2023; Cheslin Kolbe’s artistry in the 2019 final as he weaved past English defenders, something he did once again at Twickenham on Saturday night.
But England's performances are now becoming defined by their own naivety and mistakes.
"It's always disappointing, and yet we should be doing better," Lawes added. "With the quality in the country, 100 per cent. But I promise you now, it's not because these lads don't want to do it. They want to win more than anything else, but they've got to put that on the pitch."
Monye insisted that England have the quality to compete with the top nations, but acknowledged the need to get more from key individuals.
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"We're not getting enough out of players," he said. "Because I'm looking at the teamsheet and seeing a huge amount of talented players, but for some reason, we aren't getting the maximum potential out of our players, we're just not.
"I'm seeing players that are tearing it up for their clubs, coming into the camp with great form. And of course, international rugby is very different to domestic rugby, but for whatever reason we aren't able to reach the potential and the ceiling of the performances we expect from our team."
Borthwick's side could finish the Autumn Nations Series with just one win, if they can beat Japan next time out.
A crisis it may not be yet, but questions will begin to swirl. And next year's Six Nations could be a decisive tournament for Borthwick.
"It has to be fixed before then," Monye said. "We talk about non-negotiables so often, one from four is unacceptable for English rugby.
"We constantly say we want to be dining at the top table because we should be. Because of our finances, because of our player pool, because of the quality, because of the strength of our domestic competition. But four out of 10 at the end of this year is not what I expect from this team."
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