Sir Clive Woodward is never afraid to share what he thinks and the former England boss has given a brutal assessment of England’s performance against France in the Autumn Nations Cup.
Despite winning the tournament, Eddie Jones men were uninspiring throughout the four-week tournament with a penalty from Owen Farrell in extra-time securing the narrow 22-19 victory.
“England must find ways of offering much more in attack,” wrote Woodward in his column for the Mail Online.
“Certainly nobody is losing sleep in Cape Town or Auckland watching England kick the ball away incessantly.
“Their kicking game has been too crude and predictable — kick tennis was the rut they got into again yesterday — and it doesn’t challenge and stress the opposition. It lets them off the hook.
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“England must bring their dynamic runners into the game and develop a more sophisticated, all-court strategy. I accept this can take time to evolve, but the clock is ticking.
“That is why I remain disappointed we saw so little emphasis on attack this autumn.
“One of the more mystifying statements from Eddie Jones recently was that England were not going to look at their attacking until after the Lions tour next year. Really?
“The fear of losing is holding England back.”
Sir Clive Woodward’s Lions 2021 XV
BACK-THREE: Stuart Hogg (Scotland), Liam Williams (Wales), Anthony Watson (England)
“I’d start these three, but could have Jonny May and Josh Adams adding pace off the bench.”
CENTRES: Manu Tuilagi (England) & Jonathan Davies (Wales)
“Similar partnership to Te’o and Davies in 2017, but with even more power.”
