Brian O'Driscoll slams Steve Borthwick over 'stodgy and negative' England : Planet Rugby

Brian O’Driscoll has hit out at the “negative” game plan of England head coach Steve Borthwick after they escaped with a victory over Scotland.

The Ireland legend admits that he’s struggling to comprehend why the Red Rose boss is limiting individuals who play an expansive style for their clubs.

In the backline, four players came from the Premiership champions Northampton Saints but England opted to, in the words of O’Driscoll, play “kick-tennis”.

They were outscored three tries to one by the Scots at the weekend, but Finn Russell’s three missed conversions meant the hosts claimed a 16-15 triumph.

‘Scotland deserved to win’

“It wasn’t great viewing. Scotland in fairness played all the rugby and on the balance of things probably deserved to win. They couldn’t quite grab it at the very end,” O’Driscoll told ITV.

“I watch a lot of these England players playing Premiership, they’re much better than the sum of its parts, they really are.

“[Alex] Mitchell playing for Northampton Saints is unrecognisable comparatively when playing for England at the moment – there were 16 box-kicks.

“Ollie Lawrence getting hardly any possession in the centre, I don’t get it.”

Borthwick came in after Eddie Jones’ sacking in December 2022 and understandably implemented a conservative game plan given the short preparation time until the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Since then, there is a suggestion that England have looked to expand their repertoire, but the Scotland victory looked like a team doing something very different to their previous matches.

Either way, O’Driscoll cannot understand why there is not a definitive style considering the amount of time Borthwick has now had in the hotseat.

“I don’t know why there isn’t a cohesion, why we haven’t seen after three years of Steve Borthwick that there is a real focus and a real plan,” he said.

“It’s stodgy, it’s kick-tennis, it’s quite negative. It’s fine when you eke out one-point victories but when those results go against you, which they will at times, and you’re playing that way, you’re going to get huge negative feedback.

“You’re not going to get your crowd onside, you’re not going to get media favours.”

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Fin Smith and Owen Farrell

Youngster Fin Smith has been the player charged with directing the team around the field from 10, but on Saturday he was mostly kicking the ball up in the air for his team-mates to chase.

O’Driscoll added: “I wonder whether having a young 10 like Fin Smith, if you had an Owen Farrell in there, would he agree to kicking the leather off the ball?

“Certainly as an outside centre, I wouldn’t enjoy just chasing it all day long and playing kick-tennis, there’s no fun in that.

“You want to play with ball in hand and they have the capacity. These guys do it for their clubs week in, week out.

“I know club rugby is not international rugby but there’s way more in this England team than how the talent we’re seeing on show is currently being released.”

READ MORE: Law discussion: Five controversial moments that decided England v Scotland including Freeman’s ‘ghost try’

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