Former England head coach Sir Clive Woodward wants current boss Steve Borthwick to tinker with Tommy Freeman’s position after South Africa’s victory at Twickenham.
The pendulum swung towards the Springboks after a lively start to the game, in which five tries were scored inside the first 27 minutes. And they eventually won 29-20 to inflict England’s fifth consecutive Test match defeat – their longest run of losses since 2018.
Ahead of Saturday’s showdown, Woodward was keen to see more offensively from centre pairing Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence. “The reality is that their partnership isn’t working yet,” he wrote in The Daily Mail.
And the 68-year-old backed Northampton Saints’ Freeman to be a success in place of Lawrence at outside centre. Borthwick stuck Freeman back out on the right wing against South Africa, which Woodward would like to change going forward.
“I would urge Steve Borthwick to explore the option of playing Tommy Freeman at outside centre,” he wrote. “I think he’s a wonderful player.
“We haven’t seen much of Freeman with ball in hand this November, but he’s been marooned out on the wing chasing kicks and playing in a team that has yet to discover how to really play fast.
“I think England might get the best out of him by moving him inside. Freeman switches between the wing and 13 for Northampton and excels in both positions, so it’s not like he is an alien to the centre role.”
Having been pipped in all three of their Autumn Nations Series matches thus far, England only have next Sunday’s match against Japan for Borthwick to demonstrate that he can turn things around. And Woodward has reinforced the importance of getting that centre pairing spot on.
“The midfield is the heart of any team,” he wrote. “The centres are the glue that bind the XV together. In the England team I coached, the majority of the headlines went to the likes of Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson and Jason Robinson. But, in a side full of world-class talent, the centres pairing of Mike Tindall and Will Greenwood were the crucial cogs.
“Mike Catt also played a key role in us winning the 2003 World Cup, coming off the bench to change the quarter-final with Wales and starting the semi-final win over France. There were many other centres I relied upon too. I was fortunate.”
