Pressure on Steve Borthwick and Warren Gatland?

[@tomsawyer4321]

As a South African who played club rugby in Johannesburg and played lower league rugby in the UK for many years no higher than National 3 I can give you some insider knowledge. English rugby was ruined in the long term when the premier league was ringfenced and you stopped promotion/ relegation. In South Africa if you are good enough, persistent enough and hardworking enough you can still rise above the pack and achieve top honors. Since promotion/ relegation was abandoned English rugby reinforced the idea that rugby is elitist and left good clubs like Rotherham swinging in the wind. English rugby cannot compete against the Springbok pack and I'm convinced somewhere in the less trendy rugby playing areas of the UK some devastating players never get a look in. South Africa post 1994 was like this until Rassie came along and committed truly to unearthing our hidden gems, players like Kolbe, Ox, Siya, Sacha, Bongi, Hendricks, Am, Mapimpi, Moodie etc etc etc would have had a much tougher time getting the opportunity to display their class to the world if Rassie and others had not spread the net. English rugby in the 1990's at club level was buoyant and the dream of taking a small club to the premier league was albeit slim, still a possibility. Now that dream is dead and along with it English rugby has lost half of its talent pool. Now English rugby through Billy Beaumont at the IRB are changing the laws of the game to negate opposition strengths instead of concentrating on strengthening their weaknesses. As always the English way is to change the rules whether it be promotion/ relegation or the Bok pack and it's bench rather than improving their player pool. Currently England are a nice team but nobody fears them and that's probably because there's a bunch of potential world beaters working in a dead end job at a factory and occasionally watching a match in the pub. You guys have a structural problem not a talent problem, you need to find those tough working class lads who can front up to the Bok pack rather than relying on has been to change the laws to try and reach parity

[@ArchieFatcackie]

I get all that you say, but it’s still a country that has reached 4 World Cup finals, alright winning just one but they do find ways to get themselves up there even when they haven’t got the best of teams. I mean they were a whisker away from reaching another one at the last World Cup even after a dreadful period leading up to the tournament.

[@ashleysoudah]

they need some farmers

[@OscarOSullivan]

It is no wonder that the greatest England team of all time the early 2000’s team was mostly made up of working class and lower middle class players.

[@imammo867]

Only Mapimpi comes from the community club scene the rest went to elite upper-middle class rugby schools.

[@jmurphy9657]

Agree wholeheartedly re ring fencing, there is no motivation for the incumbents to improve and no motivation for those lower down the triangle to improve. That amongst other issues eg drop in participation certainly don't help. Not sure I agree that Beaumont is working at the behest of England, there are other teams that benefit from this. I for one hate the constant changing and tinkering with the rules. Rugby works in different ways and there is likely a way to combat the things they're trying to negate - Mauls, Kicking etc- it just takes imagination.

[@brianbarbarich1401]

Good stuff Alfie Cheers from Durban

[@terencehill8145]

Lekka bru from Joburg

[@thamimahlangabeza6639]

Alfred, as always, you're on point!

[@TPRugbyfan]

As a kiwi I just want to say that England aren’t that far away. The NZ game was dreadfully unlucky. I was there and normally George Ford would kick that penalty and not hit the post. Against Aus they again got themselves in a winning position at the end and just didn’t defend well the kick off. Aus showed some outrageously high risk skills to get back into that game. Again I felt England were unlucky . Finally to lose a relatively close game to SA after two mercurial tries by Cheslin Kolbe is no disgrace as SA are the number one side in the world for a reason. You need a bit of luck at the highest level and England shouldn’t be all doom and gloom about the autumn results or calling for Borthwick’s resignation !

[@kev63inuk]

As a big England fan I’m encouraged by lots of SH fans rating England a lot more than our own media and fans. After all in agreement we aren’t getting ripped apart and shorelines suggest we aren’t that far off.

[@rooftile883]

Saffa here - England are not far off!!

[@andrewbrockbank2789]

Nice Alfie, I hope you get more time or even your own show on Talksport! (if thats what you'd like)

[@jonfallis305]

marvellous, never thought i would see pearcy talking rugby.....

[@carlaspinall7418]

Marcus smith might play for the philopines

[@avermeulen004]

England has a deep rooted psychological problem, you see that when they over-celebrate little victories as if they won the World Cup. You see other teams keeping it muted, instead focussing on the next job at hand.

[@WarrenFelix]

🇿🇦💪🏼

[@mercedessl8718]

My frustration comes from SB emulating EJ and insisting on playing/choosing his favourites. Some of these are favourites have great reputations but that’s all and are past there sell by date. Yes the front row is nowhere near as strong as previous years and the top southern hemisphere sides have all got stronger. We did well to not get annihilated in the last 5 matches. The bench that SB has chooses is woeful. If he’s not replacing his best player, Smith, he’s moving him to FB in order to play Ford. Against the boks Ford occupied a place on the bench but wasnt used which was a correct decision but why choose him? I was optimistic about the 6 nations but now I feel we could scrape 4th place

[@jmurphy9657]

He was EJs number two for so long so no surprises there.

[@Bradley-b4d]

RFU should have appointed more experience coach with bigger CV not just appoint Englishman because he's English.🧐🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🌹🏉

[@Lalyn-c9j]

He said australia scored 3 tries when wales had a player sent off..clearly didnt watch the game..australia scored 3 tries when australia had a player sent off

[@donaldmorgan4716]

Spot on , I was there get your facts right, wales were out muscled, old cliche, men against boys come to mind

[@peterlangan1181]

He most likely meant that even with an opposition man off they conceded three tries.

[@isitwasit8756]

He made an obvious error thats all .. jesus

[@TommyCat4]

Steve Borthwick won't take England further forward, he might be a good club coach but has not up to International level. I disagree with 3 tries being missed tackles. First try by Grant Williams was not a missed tackle but the fault of the rush defence going up too fast and both tries by Kolby were not missed tackles, the first was a brilliant side step of Stuart and the second was caused by mess in the backline. If you don't evaluate as it really is you won't fix the problem.

[@goattm2]

Here in Wales, youngsters just aren't taking up the sport anymore. They are outpriced from watching the national team and the WRFU have gentrified it so only the rich people and pensioners can afford to go. Meanwhile football is absolutely thriving and you can go and watch the national team for 20-30 quid and in a much better atmosphere. Just look at the difference in the ages between football and rugby fans. I saw it myself when watching the national team in Cardiff. They were both playing on the same day and all the footy fans were youngsters or young adults while the rugby fans all had white hair and had to stuff themselves into their rugby tops. Their greed has killed off the sport here and most of the fans in the Millennium are just there for the piss up and not the sport.

[@WayneMorgan-u9p]

Nice rant and some very accurate content however, whats need is a plan of action because the current set up is only going backwards. Whats the answer?

[@PaulTerry-l8x]

Wales are in trouble... England however, are rising... with a bit of luck they could have beaten AB, Australia...

[@davidpearn2484]

Yes but they didn't did they.

[@PaulTerry-l8x]

@davidpearn2484 True... fine tuning will get them there... Wales on the other hand require a Major Overall Service.

[@ColinAnderson-hy2oj]

@@PaulTerry-l8xYou can't fine tune a tractor😂

[@PaulTerry-l8x]

@ColinAnderson-hy2oj 🤣🤣🤣

[@zakirmohammed352]

Give borthwick the 6 nations

[@davidboyle1193]

Why

[@robertwhite9621]

That's hardly fair, can we play the tournament first before just giving it to him?

[@billparry7058]

​​​@@robertwhite9621now that is comic genius 😂😂😂😂😂👌

[@edrahimovic]

​@@robertwhite9621😂😂😂😂

[@zakirmohammed352]

lol meaning let him coach the 6 nations if he does bad then sack him “ rugby takes time “ the loses on paper looks bad but look how close thy got to the bigger teams it couldv gone either way

[@Camcolito]

We're short of players and the team's not bonding 🤣

[@patrickcoote8441]

Ireland loss to NZ was poor but I’m fine with the Argentina game as Argentina are on the up, have beat NZ in NZ, beat RSA and Australia this year. They also put 50 on Italy but there is a level below poor when it comes to England and Wales so don’t go lumping the rest of us into the same bracket. Ireland were just recently beating RSA in a close test while both England and Wales were winless in there summer series. Ireland losing three tests sine the start of last year’s six nations is troubling but not in the same ball park as England or Wales. We will see where Scotland and Australia are this weekend.

[@carlh296]

England still very short of quality front rowers and centers. Also, over seas players.........

[@VincentOram]

Fitness of England found wanting. Bench is poor. Invest in broadening depth

[@ashleysoudah]

england have lost last 5 games to top teams by close margins. not a disaster

[@struck2soon]

Borthwick’s “SYSTEM” is not working. Borthwick, it is time to man-up and move aside. For the sake of England rugby.

[@VincentOram]

Who would replace him. Look at his world cup success.

[@GoldenbanjoDJ]

No no no England got a fairly easy run on the easy side of the draw, away from the top 4 teams in the world who knocked each other out. They didn’t have to face a top side until SA. It’s almost like their Euros and World Cups in football actually

[@colinchisholm300]

England will never be as good as their media make them out to be. With the exception of Marcus Smith this is a very ordinary set of England players.

[@ashleysoudah]

🤨

[@ArchieFatcackie]

@@colinchisholm300 That’s just absolute cliched nonsense. There’s been no building up of the England Rugby team in fact just the opposite.

[@isaacbanda785]

Lol Southern Hemisphere rules .

[@stevenwortrich6014]

Nothing wrong with the team selection, the problem might be the subs, they are straight up poor.

[@DinDjarin914]

Can see the hosts of the show are not clued up on Rugby. Makes for a basic interview. Not really talkSport standard despite Alfie being good.

[@kevinpillay6103]

They need a proper front row to start with. What is the role of Genge . He Is way over rated and been one of the worse players this series. Backup bench also very poor.

[@markbruce7674]

The players are running out steam in the last 20 in every game they played...you can physically see it in the replays ..they can't play play a full 80....secondly they need a good sport psychologist.to turm around the mentality of the players....they have the talent but not the mental and physical fitness at present

[@DavidGee88]

Wallabies just better in both games…..No excuses!

[@isitwasit8756]

Eng are nowhere near the problems wales are suffering at the moment.. it is dire for wales at grassroots , regional and internationally..

[@WayneMorgan-u9p]

Absolutely. The Welsh talent pool hasn't been this shallow since the 80s and we were whipping boys for some time. No money in the Welsh game either and nothing coming in via the turnstiles. Its going to be a hard watch for Welsh fans over the next 4 to 8 years.

[@VincentOram]

Broaden depth at school level . Spend money 💰 on this instead of short term profit

[@johnvanvuuren581]

Nothing wrong with English coach england rugby needs to believe in themselves winning will come

[@leoncolwin8645]

Felix Jones left because he had a group of gutless, cowardly players who refused to play hard. Steve Borthwick is not exactly a deep thinker and essentially you have bad players badly coached.