Brian Moore fears England lack the ability to improve under Steve Borthwick’s guidance following their latest defeat.

On the surface the Red Rose put in a decent performance against the Springboks, but the back-to-back world champions proved too strong at Twickenham, prevailing 29-20.

England They had chances to snatch victory but just like against the All Blacks and Wallabies they couldn’t get the job done.

More pressure on the coach Borthwickwho presided over five consecutive defeats in 2024.

There are those who are positive about the direction they are heading, with losses coming down to a narrow margin against some of the best teams in the world, but critics point out that it is only the results that matter.

While performance is one way of measuring progress, at some stage they need to be on the right side of the scoreboard to convince naysayers.

‘Worrying’

“It’s natural for pundits such as Courtney Lawes, until recently a senior member of Borthwick’s charges, to take this optimistic line, and all England fans would like that assumption to be true,” Moore wrote in his piece. Telegram colon.

“But there is another equally plausible prism through which this can be viewed. What this belief ignores is the possibility that England’s players are playing at their maximum level and losing even narrowly against good teams such as New Zealand and South Africa represents the limit of their potential.

“So where are we if the alternative, unsavory hypothesis is true, because it is just as plausible as the original claim. The truth is, we don’t know, and that’s worrying because the longer this déjà vu goes on, the more (not less) likely it is that something fundamental will go wrong.”

England: Steve Borthwick praised for ‘incredible rugby brain’ as players ‘let down’ coach in Springboks defeat

Moore is particularly concerned about the team’s defense following the resignation of coach Felix Jones.

Joe El-Abd has since taken over that role but his rearguard has been in very bad shape in the Autumn Nations Series, as evidenced by 95 points from three games.

“England appear to have made a lot of progress in their defense under former defense coach Felix Jones and the circumstances that led to losing the services of Borthwick are still unclear,” Moore wrote.

“Whatever the truth, Jones’ departure has led to a noticeable regression, but is this simply a matter of players not doing their job or is it due to confusion over defensive systems and philosophy?

“Sometimes it seems like it’s both and the England board needs to be responsible for that.”

More difficult fixtures

England, who have lost to the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks, have an ideal chance to end their losing streak when they face Japan.

However, this will be their last game until the start of the 2025 Six Nations, when they start with matches against Ireland and France, the two best teams in Europe.

Defeats there and in the next encounter against Scotland could be disastrous and potentially make Borthwick’s position untenable.

“Unfortunately, Borthwick has two tough matches against France and Ireland in the opening rounds of the next Six Nations, as well as the last game against a transitional Japanese team, followed by Scotland, where they have won just one of their past seven encounters,” he added. Moore.

“Given that two defeats in the tournament mean an end to mid-table mediocrity, the situation may look bleak indeed.

“If Borthwick and his coaching staff fail to put together a convincing 80-minute performance anytime soon, it would not be unreasonable for the England faithful to lose confidence in the entire structure.”

READ MORE: Steve Borthwick is ‘confident’ he has ‘absolute support’ from the RFU as redundancy talk gains momentum