Things aren't going well in the rugby world of England and Wales. They are both on a long losing streak. It was only compounded this past weekend with England losing to South Africa (29-20) and Wales suffering a record 59-20 loss to Australia. This is all happening during Autumn Nations series.
The English's loss on Saturday was their fifth straight defeat (it's the first time it's happened since 2018). At the post-match presser, England head coach, Steve Borthwick, said, "At the start of this series, you looked at the condition of the players and it wasn’t quite where it needed to be for Test-match rugby, for teams stepping straight into Test-match rugby." He continued to say that South Africa; New Zealand and Australia are coming off the Rugby Championship and thus were immediately ready for Test matches.
On the eve of England’s autumn campaign, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) announced that 17 players would be receiving enhanced contracts as part of the new eight-year £264m Professional Game Partnership; which gives Borthwick greater control over his squad, particularly their strength and conditioning. It is also supposed to lead to greater alignment over playing styles.
Before England’s first autumn defeat against New Zealand, Borthwick took his squad to a warm-weather training camp in Girona but he believes his players were not in the desired shape at the start of the campaign. In defeats by New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, England have struggled in the final 20 minutes. The Springboks head coach, Rassie Erasmus, questioned whether England had the fitness levels to maintain their aggressive defence before his side’s 29-20 win at Twickenham.
England complete their autumn campaign against Eddie Jones’s Japan on Sunday in a fixture they will be expected to win emphatically. Jones was in charge the last time England lost five on the bounce before Danny Cipriani inspired a hard-fought victory over South Africa in Cape Town. Borthwick was Jones’s assistant at the time and revealed the pair had been in contact last week. The pressure on him will mount should Japan pull off a shock victory.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Borthwick, the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney and the performance director, Conor O’Shea, will not be paid six-figure bonuses after England’s poor results this year. According to The Times, the trio were in line for a windfall if England’s men met high win targets.
It's been claimed that the English Premiership is a weak league compared to others. This includes the French Top 14. English winger, Henry Arundell (who plays for Racing 92), compared and contrasted the Premiership and the Top 14. He said, "Every weekend, you play against the world’s greatest players in the Top 14. Wherever you go, the stadiums are full, the atmosphere is crazy… I’ve played a few international matches and in my opinion, the Top 14 is the championship that comes closest to that level."
Kyle Sinckler said something similar after a few matches at Toulon this season and Zach Mercer – who played the best rugby of his career during his two seasons with Montpellier – spoke of the physical challenge as, "lways huge in the Top 14."
Even the second tier of French rugby, the ProD2, can match the Premiership for physicality. This is according to former England flanker, Courtney Lawes, who swapped Northampton for Brive in the summer. "From a physical point of view, there’s not a lot of difference between the two championships."
In a column, Clive Woodward dissected the Autumn Series failures. He wrote, "Once again, England didn’t make the right calls under pressure. Once again, England were on the wrong side of the fine margins. It’s becoming a recurring theme. That’s five games in a row now… it was the team’s decision-making on the field that let the supporters down."
The so-called weakened league can trace the beginning to four years ago when the Rugby Football Union (RFU) discontinued promotion and relegation. This resulted in ring-fencing the Premiership and in the process, rendering many matches meaningless. There are hardly any matches in the Top 14 when there isn’t something at stake; even in the Spring, teams are battling hard to finish in the top six and qualify for the play-offs or fighting to avoid being in the bottom two. Competitiveness kills complacency.
Heading west and to Wales, there are several talking points in regard to their current form. The loss against Australia was their 11th straight defeat. This is a record. The previous was 10, between 2002-03 and under the leadership of Steve Hansen.
This current form leads to more than 400 days without a Welsh victory. Their last match they won was against Georgia at the 2023 World Cup.
Warren Gatland's second spell as Wales coach is proving markedly less successful than his first, from 2007 to 2019. That yielded four Six Nations titles – including three Grand Slams – and two appearances in World Cup semi-finals.
However, the 61-year-old has found wins harder to come by since replacing compatriot, Wayne Pivac, as Wales coach in December 2022. Wales have lost 17 out of 23 internationals since Gatland's return. It means the side has slipped to a new low of 11th in the world rankings.
One of the longest-running debates among Welsh rugby followers has been the state of the nation's four regional teams.
Introduced as professionalism took hold, the regions have failed to excite fans who used to flock to see the likes of Cardiff; Llanelli; Neath; Swansea; Pontypridd; Pontypool and Newport. Stripped of the traditional club names, many supporters still struggle to fully get behind their region.
That lack of backing has not been helped by the performances of the four regions – Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets – in the URC and European competitions. None of the regions qualified for the Champions Cup this season, although the Principality Stadium is hosting the final, with all four competing instead in Europe's second-tier Challenge Cup.
Budgets have been cut to £4.5 million ($5.7 million), small fry when compared to heavyweights in the French Top 14. Rugby Union is still considered by many as Wales's national sport but player numbers are steadily declining, a worrying development for the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).
Former internationals, Jim Hamilton and Andy Goode, have torn into the state of Welsh rugby, claiming their performance against Australia was like watching, "men against boys." The pair also suggested even a team of the world's best coaches would struggle to turn things around amid their current woes.
After watching Wales' 52-20 thumping at the hands of the Wallabies, ex-Scotland star Hamilton claimed that the difference in size and power between Wales' players and their Autumn series opponents is bordering on "unsafe", with former England fly-half Goode comparing slight Welsh full-back, Cameron Winnett, to a "12-year-old boy" playing against full grown men.
Speaking of the upcoming clash with the Springboks, Hamilton insisted on a South Africa win. He said, "I’ll tell you the odds [of a Wales win] and I’ll put my house on it. They ain’t beating South Africa. It ain’t happening. I know there have been tough games before and Rassie was saying they’ve had tough games against Wales - when the greats were playing. Men against boys, that is what we’re seeing now."
"Australia were just comfortable throughout the whole match [at the weekend]. It was just men against boys physically and the Welsh players looked completely lost," Hamilton. With all due respect, which I have to say because you don’t want to disrespect the players that are doing it, they’re putting their bodies on the line. But Wales were like empty bags at the lineout drive."
Goode agreed, remarking that while the likes of Archie Griffin played well, the Wallabies "destroyed" Wales with driving mauls and made the contest "look like a school game at times."
"It was men against boys. It was a team run for Australia. Australian, Samu Kerevi, gets sent off with a 20-minute red card and they lost that [period] 21-0. With the driving lineouts, Australia were just destroying them.
"What summed up the game for me - and I feel so harsh saying this - Ikitau’s try when Cam Winnett was against him, it looked like a 12-year-old boy against a man. That’s a bit harsh against Cam Winnett because he’s not very big but he just stepped him and it looked like a school game at times. I feel harsh saying that, but it’s the truth."
Clive Woodward came out and suggested that both England and Wales follow suit the way South Africa did things with Rassie Erasmus. He advocates for both Wales and England to adopt a coaching structure similar to SA Rugby under Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber from 2020 to 2023.
He cites the need for strong leadership alongside head coach Warren Gatland during a challenging period for Welsh rugby, and points to England boss Steve Borthwick’s inexperience at international level and suggests he needs experienced support.
He sternly believes that neither the RFU’s Bill Sweeney and Conor O’Shea, nor the WRU’s Nigel Walker possess the necessary Test rugby expertise. He wrote, "The best example of the success that an international team can have by employing a strong director of rugby is South Africa. Having won back-to-back World Cups, the Springboks have had unprecedented joy with Rassie Erasmus working alongside Jacques Nienaber. They have created a system that totally prioritises the South African national side. Erasmus is now back as head coach after Nienaber joined Leinster, but I don’t think he is that hands-on."
"He oversees the operation and lets the coaches below him do the work. Both England and Wales could learn a lot from the way the Springboks have gone about things."
With what has happened, there is a strong belief that Gatland needs to be kicked to the curb. Should that there are many contenders. The front-runner would be Graham Rowntree. He has had recent success with former club, Munster. Rowntree took the reins as Munster boss back in 2022 and guided them to the United Rugby Championship (URC) title that year and finished top of the pile a year later before a surprise semi-final exit. He has also had experience with coaching at Test level, as he served on Stuart Lancaster’s England coaching staff between 2012 and 2015.
In the mix are: Stuart Lancaster; Pat Lam; Michael Cheika; Franco Smith; Toby Boot; Shaun Edward and Dwayne Peel
Current Racing 92 boss, Stuart Lancaster, would be an incredibly clever pick-up by the WRU, given he has the experience of rebuilding Test teams after his time with England. Lancaster is also keen on big projects and likes to plan for the future, which is something Wales need. Bristol boss, Pat Lam, could also be a neat choice as head coach, given his tenures with both Connacht and Bristol saw them turn from struggling outfits to serious title contenders and he won a PRO14 title as a result with the Irish province.
Michael Cheika is also an interesting one, considering he has only just taken over at Leicester Tigers but he is only on a one-year deal and could be tempted by a return to Test rugby should Wales come knocking. Again, he helped transform both Australia and Argentina into serious forces during his respective spells with them and is already having an effect at Welford Road too. His time with the Tigers also shows he can turn a team in crisis around in double-quick time.
Glasgow boss, Franco Smith, and outgoing Ospreys coach, Toby Booth, would also be excellent appointments, with their club teams succeeding despite the financial constraints. They also play a style of rugby that suits a team in transition and would help Wales build a platform to then start building wins and, importantly, confidence. Smith also has Test coaching experience after serving both the Springboks and Italy as a coach in the past.
Shaun Edwards has served as Gatland’s right-hand man in the past and bringing him back to Wales would be just the injection of energy they need. He has long been seen as a Test head coach and also has experience in turning Wales into the force of old during his first spell as assistant coach alongside Gatland, so there’s no reason he wouldn’t succeed in the top job.
Wales aren’t blessed with coaches of their own, but former international Dwayne Peel has had a decent start to his off-field career and certainly would have aspirations to coach the national side. Peel has made Scarlets a lot more competitive in the URC, and importantly already has a good understanding of some of Wales’ young players too as a result.
FYI: South Africa face Wales on Saturday (23 November) at 19:40 while England host Japan on Sunday (24 November) at 18:10.
After this, both countries will next play international rugby for the 6 Nations Championship (31 January - 15 March 2025). England travel to Dublin to face Ireland while Wales travel to Saint-Denis to face France in the 1st round.
The England situation is quite interesting. I'm under the opinion that South Africa got away with murder this past Saturday. South Africa gave away too many penalties and were reduced to 14 men for, effectively, twelve minutes, due to the yellow card being dished out in the 68th minute.
I'm not buying that the players weren't ready or that that the league is weak. Those are just excuses to me. I think there needs to be fresh ideas on various aspects of the game, including playing styles.
As for Wales, I think that the information above hits the nail on the head. Going back to Gatland, to me, was a sign of going backwards. You can't re-hire an old coach from yester-year and expect similar results. Time would've moved on from that particular time period.