England’s 2024 campaign has come to a close, following an emphatic 45-point victory over former head coach Eddie Jones’s Japan team. This followed an otherwise disastrous Autumn Nation Series for the English, after losing their previous three games against the Southern Hemisphere opposition of New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, whereby all games were decided by a single digit score.
In the wake of last year’s World Cup, there was an immense feeling of anticipation surrounding the England camp, as they once again reached a semi-final, the sixth in the country’s history, and came within one score of making their fifth final, falling 15-16 to eventual World champions South Africa in controversial fashion. Some members of the press criticised the draw for being too easy for certain teams, namely former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, who said, “If You’re Australia or England at the moment, you’re rubbing your hands, aren’t you? You’ll get an easy ride in there if you do things right,” somewhat taking away from the achievement, although not the fault of the players for the way the draw is done.
At the conclusion of the World Cup, where England finished 3rd, after defeating Argentina 26-23 in the bronze medal match-up, a plethora of senior players announced their retirement from international level, including their highest capped player Ben Youngs, as well as winger Jonny May. Added to this, a large number of players, such as Owen Farrell and Courtney Lawes, took their skills to the French division, due to the higher wages paid out by Top 14. This renders them unable to qualify for international selection, thus allowing Borthwick to introduce a new crop of exciting young talent to take the team forward for the next World Cup cycle.
With this new era of English rugby talent coming through, former South African defensive coach Felix Jones was brought in to the fold, to add a new dimension to the defense. Jones had previously joined the Bok’s coaching team in preparation for the 2019 World Cup, which they won. Prior to the competition, they were considered underdogs and had no chance of winning, which looked to be the case after losing their opening fixture against New Zealand. The former Irishman’s defensive ideology is focused around ‘blitz defense’, by which the outside backs flood up in a line to take man and ball and prevent line-breaks out wide. This came with incredible success for the South African team, who have players such as Lukhanyo Am and Jesse Kriel, who both possess a phenomenal combination of strength, speed, and technique, that is able to completely nullify even the best attacking threats.
England’s current issue is that the number 13 role is presently filled by Henry Slade, who has been easily undone in this system thus far, causing England to give away a greater number of tries then they have in previous years. They conceded 33 tries this calendar year, an average of 2.75 per game, in comparison to 39 tries in 16 games in 2023, or 2.44 a game. At the conclusion of England’s summer tests against Japan and New Zealand, Felix Jones left his position, citing ‘turmoil’ as his reason for doing so, following a disappointing start to his time with the team. This highlights not only the lack of success of Jones’ time with the England squad, but also Steve Borthwick’s lack of consistency since taking over from Eddie Jones in December 2022, with Borthwick’s first two years in charge yielding a 50% win rate, whilst Eddie Jones averaged a 52% win rate in his last two years before he was sacked.
Throughout the entirety of 2024, England won just five of their twelve games, a 42% win rate, including no wins against Southern Hemisphere opposition, causing them to slip down to 7th in the official World Rankings. There is, however, positives to take from the current England team, as a vast number of young players have been given opportunities and experience, with 42 players making England squads over the last 12 months. This can be seen through the emergence of Marcus Smith (25), and Fin Smith (22), at fly-half, taking the position over long-term options Owen Farrell (33) and George Ford (31). England’s goal is to play an expansive, exciting brand of rugby, with new assistant coach Joe El-Abd charged with sorting out England’s defensive frailty ahead of an important Six Nations campaign.