Former England full-back Ben Foden has spoken exclusively to BOYLE Sports following Scotland's impressive victory over England, pinpointing tactical errors where England struggled in loose play and lost structure against a ruthless Scottish side that targeted the aerial battle and exploited uncharacteristic mistakes.
Foden questioned England's psyche and potential complacency after a winning streak, suggested changes like Ollie Lawrence for direct running in the centres and Maro Itoje possibly off the bench amid personal challenges. He also hailed Henry Pollock as a thrilling, characterful addition who brings energy and excitement, debated the fly-half options praising George Ford's control but calling for Marcus Smith's bench magic to spark comebacks and criticised the 6-2 split that cost direction when Arundell was sent off.
Scotland vs England
Scotland’s England Edge
Tactically, we don't play it right against Scotland . They like it loose, and when it gets loose, we make mistakes, and that's when they do well against us. Every time we play Scotland , it's always a big scoring game, and I think that's how they like to play us. Our structure goes out the window a little bit. Scotland just had England’s number.
England’s Psyche Issues?
That's the big question, isn't it? They need to bounce back. England seemed a little flat for some reason. Ellis Genge wasn’t his usual self. Hopefully, it was a one-off; you don't always get it right. That's the interesting thing about rugby: at the end of the day, it's 15 v 15, and if you don't get the bounce of the ball, or your energy's a bit off, or your execution is a little bit off, you’re found wanting.
Scotland were hurting from last week because they put in a poor performance against a very tough Italian outfit, so they were looking to bounce back.
Complacency
England probably thought going into this that it was sort of a foregone conclusion. Scotland didn't play well last week. England had played well, winning 11 on the trot. But the old foe, Scotland have our number. Ask any Scotsman , "What's the biggest game of the season?" and it’s England .
They were really up for it. England made uncharacteristic mistakes, but Scotland were ruthless, and they played the right kind of game. Scotland went into a bit of an aerial battle, usually where England do very well. Scotland took it to England . Obviously, Arundell was sent off for that high-ball challenge, but Scotland must have worked very hard on that aerial battle during the week and knew it was an area that they were going to target England . They turned it into a bit of a weapon for themselves.
Scotland’s Struggles For Consistency
They need to, yes, absolutely. It must drive Gregor Townsend mad! One game can’t define a season. But in their defence, I think everyone underestimated how good this Italian side is as well. They were a much better outfit than people gave them credit for. We saw this weekend when they played Ireland that if they were a little bit more ruthless attacking in that first half, they could have been out of sight and with the game home and hosed at halftime. So that would have ruffled a few feathers anyway, going into week three.
England Rugby
England Changes
A lot depends on whether Arundell gets banned for a match. If he does, then Tommy Freeman moves to the wing, and then I think you bring in Ollie Lawrence. And there could be a case for starting Lawrence anyway, to give us a different look in the centres as well a bit more of a hard-line hitter, a guy that George Ford can dump the ball off to and just get over the gain line.
Fraser Dingwall at 12 is a separate distributor, very clean in the way he plays. But I think that England lacked a little bit of direct running against Scotland .
Itoje Decision
Maro has been going through a lot recently, and he’s grieving. It's a heavy crown to wear when you're the captain of your country. There's a lot of responsibility with that. Maro didn't have his best game; he's probably one of the first people to put his hands up and say that. Whether Maro sits on the bench and sort of brings a bit of fire off the bench, who knows?
The thing is with England ; they are so blessed at the moment with depth all over the place in every position. If they need to mix it up, they certainly can do that. Look at the guys who are missing out. Tom Curry's not even on the field at the moment a British and Irish Lion and one of the world's best back rowers.
Pollock Delivers On Thrash Talk
I think he's great for the game. With any form of entertainment - and I know rugby is a sport and people don't like to talk about it as entertainment, but if you're going to bring in the crowds and you're going to bring in the big bucks, you've got to have entertainment, and you've got to have your heroes and your villains.
And I think that Pollock understands that side of the media, and he plays into it. He talks the talk because he can walk the walk. He's a kid who's on fire at the moment. Every time he gets the ball, there’s a sense of excitement. It’s like watching the French team; everyone is just hungry to be on the ball all the time. There's a lot of excitement, and anything can happen. And that's the way Pollock is to me.
I look back to my career when I was 22 or 23 years old and, you know, I felt invincible. I felt fit, I felt strong, I didn't care who I was playing against, I just wanted the ball in my hands the whole time. You can see that that's Pollock ; he just breathes energy into the game, and he's awesome to watch. He's a back row, he's as quick as a wing, he's got nice touches, his offloading game is very good, he's fit, he gets after things. I think he's great, he's what England rugby needs; we need more characters like him.
England's #10
The Fly Half Debate
With the way the game is now, with 40-odd kicks in a match, is anyone better at kicking the ball on the front foot than George Ford in England ? Probably not.
But then you look at someone like Matthieu Jalibert and what he's doing in that position; he's just so creative. He kicks the ball a lot as well, but the chips and the dinks in behind and the cross-fields are incredible. If you're to be the world's best, you've got to have a bit of flair to you. Ford is one of the best fly-halves at controlling a game. But when they needed to spark something out of nothing, they couldn’t.
The one guy I wish they had on the bench was Marcus Smith. England needed that sort of switch of tempo, someone who could do something and flip the game on its head. Someone like Marcus Smith brings that into the game; suddenly, you can do something out of nothing and create go-forward ball, or he sees something, and he uses his feet.
That's the only thing you can criticise George Ford for. He's coming to the end of his stellar career, and he's still doing it at the best level. He's still a great player, don't get me wrong, but England had moved on from him. They'd gone for Marcus Smith and then Fin Smith . Then those two got selected on the Lions [tour?], which meant Fordy stepped in for the summer tour, played really well, and then suddenly was number one again
The Case For Smith?
I would certainly have him on the bench. Fin Smith , especially with his relationship with Alex Mitchell , Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman I think that if you're going to go with Fin Smith , he has to start. If you don’t, then you shouldn’t have him on the bench. You have to go for the magic of Marcus Smith.
England were punished for doing the 6-2 split. What happened to the old 5-3 split?! They suffered from that. When Arundell went off, Fin Smith had to go into 12, which he doesn't play much of, and England lost a bit of direction. Someone like Ollie Lawrence would have brought England that hard-hitting, hard-running and off-loading game in the middle. If you have George Ford and Fin Smith as your 10-12 combination, you are not going to make easy metres up the middle.
Bet on Six Nations Odds at BOYLE Sports
*Prices are subject to fluctuation
Remember, Always Gamble Responsibly
