Steve Borthwick has been accused of holding his England players back with his tactics and stopping them from reaching their full potential.
They breathed new life into their Six Nations campaign on Saturday with a hard-fought win over Scotland, their first since 2020, to wrestle back the Calcutta Cup.
Finn Russell missed a last-gasp conversion which would have given victory to the Scots, allowing England to end their run of successive defeats against their old rivals.
In spite of the result at Twickenham, former Wasps full-back Andy Goode has suggested that England would be a much better side without Borthwick at the helm.
The 45-year-old is regularly criticised for what is often perceived as a negative tactical approach, with Goode taking to X (formerly Twitter) after the final whistle to make his feelings known.
“Great to get the win for England,” he wrote. “I genuinely think there’s an exciting team in that squad being held back by Steve Borthwick and the inexperienced coaching team.”
Goode also suggested that England were fortunate to have the match officials on their side, adding: “England’s Man of the Match was the ref Pierre Brousset!”
The hosts adopted a kick-heavy approach against Scotland, going against the free-flowing style of rugby that supporters have been crying out for during Borthwick’s tenure.
Will Carling, who captained England in the 1990s, described the win as ‘very ugly’ and Borthwick later admitted that he took little pride in instructing his players to kick more.
“Scotland brought a very, very smart tactical plan,” he said. “The way to set-up to play against England, generally, is to play limited phase and put the kick on to England and ultimately in the first half they had the ascendency.
“But in the second half, the players gradually figured it out and found different ways to get an advantage and got up on the scoreboard. These are good teams we’re playing against.
“There are times where you’re in the ascendency and there are times where they are and you have to maximise your opportunities and minimise theirs. Each of these games has been very different. What pleases me is I think the team’s evolving.
“We don’t necessarily want to play the way we played today. We want the ball in hand, we want to move the ball. We’ve got a whole lot of creative talent, but Scotland are trying to stop you from doing that.
“They did it really well, but we found a way to win and we’ll make sure we’re better for this experience.”
