England will be lucky if she makes it out of her group, how are things going

England looked empty of ideas and hope in Dublin. Photo: Getty Images/Charles McQuillan

I remember watching the pathetic demolition of England by South Africa in the 2007 World Cup basin round. After the 36-point whiteout, I wrote that England would play Australia and then fly home. I, and to be honest, almost everyone else, were wrong and England came close to making the mother of all resurrections happen by taking the same Springboks team very close to the final losing 15-6.

England got the easiest draw in their World Cup pool. Their rivals are ranked seventh, 12th, 14th and 22nd in the world and under normal circumstances England should expect to win the pool and progress in relative comfort. Let's put it this way, would you prefer Scotland to draw against the countries ranked first, fourth, 15th and 19th?

Nevertheless, England fans now have to take into account that their team may not make it out of the pool. If they don't beat Argentina in the first leg, they're in for some effective knockout rugby against Japan and Samoa. Normally both of these teams would be 15 points behind, but now they must feel that on a good day they might just throw a surprise. The Argentines will approach the England game with some expectation, not much hope.

Before the Ireland game, Courtney Lowes, England's vice-captain, said the team could take advantage of the hardships they felt they had from the aftermath of Owen Farrell's hard hitting Thane Basham. He went on to say: «It's an interesting annoyance because it's an individual player and we're not at the World Cup yet, so we can't peak too soon. It was frustrating for us in the last two games — we just didn't play as well as we could.»

Brian Moore's verdict — match against Ireland

Well, there was no sign of England, of course. peak too early in Dublin. English fans should hope that, as Lowes also stated, «at some point it will click for us and then people will see how much hard work we've put in.»

There seems to be some kind of martyr complex around the England camp right now. This condition is characterized by the feeling that no matter what you do, people misunderstand your attempts to help or your efforts fail. England seems to think that everyone wants to get Farrell, Billy Vunipola and, by extension, the whole team.

This is not the way of stubborn professionals, and this is not true. Every England fan desperately wants them to succeed. Although I try not to show it in my work, as a former England international, I would be much happier to write about the brilliant performances of the England team and the throwing of opponents in every way, but I am not ready to ignore the evidence of my own eye and, judging by the response to this defeat , most of England's supporters too.

Everyone is waiting to see what improvements have been made by Borthwick and his coaching team. We want to see what the 10 weeks of hard work in the camp portends before the World Cup. At present it is difficult to see even step by step progress, and this applies to the attack and defense of England. The fact is that in the last five games, the England team has scored only eight attempts and conceded 19. No positive moments can hide these harsh statistics.

.jpg» /> Improvements in the England team have been sorely lacking since Steve Borthwick (right, with fitness coach Aled Walters) took over. Photo: Getty Images/David Rogers

Borthwick is reported to be «disappointed and confused» by the comments around his captain, and if they deviated from Farrell's character, it's completely wrong, as it would be if it was about Vunipola's character. However, it is also wrong to pray for their help that they are not that kind of people and that off the field they are polite and respectful people, which in my experience they certainly are.

All that matters is what they do on the field, and both were sent off the field for illegal tackles that they, as very talented professional players, should not have made. If we just leaned towards one approach or the other, the decision-making processes would be completely different.

If England wants to take the position of «no one loves us, we don't care», then it's good if this leads to a positive , which seemingly only comes when they lose during games. Anything that sees them avoiding a painful process-oriented approach and reliance on «systems» should be welcomed. It shouldn't be necessary, but it's urgently needed to show some spark of ingenuity and defensive sturdiness right now.