For a team with a red rose on their shirt, England’s men’s team rarely get their flowers – from the media or their supporters.

It’s a weird situation. Admittedly their 45-22 victory over Australia in the Nations Championship wasn’t as numerically emphatic as Ireland’s win over Argentina (42-12).

And it certainly wasn’t as crushing as South Africa’s win over an injury-riddled Italian squad – that was like watching a food blender with a load of blue stuff spinning around inside it.

But England’s performance against Australia was very good and the tepid response to it was unusual. England’s tight five were as dominant as is legally allowed on the rugby field.

Up front grunt

England have always had an industrial level tight five. I’m 49, and I’ve been watching rugby consciously since about 1987, and throughout that entire period England have always had a tight five that can scrummage, clean rucks and grab throats with the best of them. This current squad is no different.

Whilst many nations struggle to find legit tighthead props who can cope at test level, England never do. In this current squad, they have Joe Heyes who is as difficult to move as a four-seater sofa and who is also really into history – think of him as a vintage Chesterfield.

Behind him they have the hugely under-appreciated Maro Itoje and arguably the most important player in England’s pack – Ollie Chessum. Chessum is the quality of lock/six that could even turn the heads of Bok supporters. 

Behind that tight five England have the hugely under-appreciated Ben Earl who is about as complete a 6/7/8 hybrid as you’ll find in the northern hemisphere.

Some people tend to get caught up on his ‘fake celebrations’, when they should be looking at his very real carrying numbers – he was top for carries in the whole competition this past weekend and is top for the entire Nations Championship as a whole.

He may not be the heaviest or the tallest, but if you’ve ever had to dig out concrete posts after a storm (I did recently), you’ll realise that a good quality hammer drill is often as effective as a massive jackhammer – because you can use it for longer periods.

Stacked in the backs

But it would be unfair to reduce England to being just a solid pack. In Fin Smith they have the perfect blend of control and cuteness – a player whose close passing is as impressive as his long-range clearances. In Seb Atkinson England seem to have found the piece that they have been missing.

In recent seasons they tried selecting a carrying centre or a passing centre – in Atkinson they have a bit of both.

Then there’s Immanuel Feyi-Waboso. He only played for 40 minutes against Australia yet made more linebreaks (4) than guys who played for the full 80 minutes. His speed with the ball is matched by his power through contact. He is so difficult to tackle, even when players go low. IFW is like rugby’s version of the Greek god Pan – except the top half is far more handsome, and the bottom half is like a rapid bison.

As you can see from the above, England have a good squad of players, and they have a solid ranking at fifth. Admittedly fifth is a little low for a squad and country of that size, but they are very close to being 3rd if you look at the table – and being third is no joke when you only have New Zealand and South Africa above you.

World Rugby Men’s Rankings – top 10 (as of 9 November 2026)

Source: World Rugby, rankings updated 9 November 2026.

So, with England competitive against all teams barring South Africa (with whom no-one can really compete long-term), why are they constantly being reviewed like they are the table wine at a Toby Carvery.

Why are we so harsh on the England rugby team?

The reality is that many of the public still hold on to the 2003 Rugby World Cup like it was yesterday. That squad in 2003 was one of the greatest assembled anywhere.

That had a squad of eight forwards who probably could have beaten one gorilla – Neil Back would have dropped it to the floor then the rest would have rucked it to death. But 2003 was 23 years ago, it was the year before Facebook was invented and a lot has changed since then.

The reason that England may get constant moans of pain instead of moans of pleasure is possibly Steve Borthwick. For whatever reason, bad feeling constantly leaks out of that camp like a poorly installed wet room.

The turnover of staff in the England backroom is high, and in a normal company would set off a stack of alarm bells and laser beams in the HR department.

Since 2022, 11-ish members of staff have been involved to varying degrees, including Richard Wigglesworth (Attack / Senior Assistant Coach / Defence), Kevin Sinfield (Skills & Kicking Coach), Felix Jones (Defence Coach), Aled Walters (Head of Strength and Conditioning), Matt Proudfoot (Forwards/Scrum Coach), Brett Hodgson (Defence Coach), Richard Cockerill (Scrum/Forwards), Martin Gleeson (Assistant), Tom Harrison (Scrum Coach), Lee Blackett (Attack Coach), Joe El-Abd (Defence Coach), and Andrew Strawbridge (Coach Advisor / Assistant Coach).

England have a very good squad of players and, outside of South Africa, are competitive. Could they do with a new head coach? Probably.

To mix two metaphors, a lot of spilt milk seems to have gone under that bridge and maybe a fresh start at head coach is required. But as for the players, they’re good.