Rugby World Cup winner Matt Dawson may be feeling slightly embarrassed after slamming England prior to the tournament in France, as Steve Borthwick’s side then went on to reach the semi-final and were agonisingly close to another final appearance. The team will feel that they have won over a number of critics this Autumn, with one of them perhaps being Dawson.
In the build-up to the tournament he suggested that while England had a number of world-class players, he was unable to spot them in the lineup. He questioned Borthwick’s ability to get those players on the pitch at the same time and insisted that they needed more games together in order to mount a successful run in France.
“I know there are players in that squad who have been world-class,” Dawson told BBC Radio 5 Live in August. “My concern is where are the world-class players right now? I’m not convinced that playing the way Steve Borthwick is playing at the moment is good enough to win the World Cup.
“I look at the England backline… and you tell me one player that is inked in. Freddie Steward at full-back? How influential is he going to be if we don’t know who the other six players in front of him are going to be? I don’t know the nine, 10, 12, 13… and that indecision has to be playing on the coaches’ mind.”
Despite tinkering with his team, Borthwick has found a settled group of players that he clearly trusts and without a controversial late penalty in favour of the Springbok, England could have been in Saturday’s final against New Zealand.
The England camp have been open about the criticism they have received and scrum-half Danny Care even admitted that he hoped that they were able to win over some of the sceptics during this run. Even though Dawson was correct in England not lifting the trophy, overall many will feel that it has been a positive tournament that bodes well for the future.
“We’ve shown stuff that fans can hopefully get behind and be proud of,” said Care. “The support we’ve had here and at home has been amazing. This team will go on to bigger and better things, I’m sure. “There was a lot of stuff said about us before and hopefully we’ve changed some perceptions, maybe got people believing in us again.
“We’d love to have been in the big dance but we’re not. The next best thing you can do is to finish third and try to make more people back home proud of this England team.”
Even Dawson will admit that England may just have defied his expectations and the attention will soon turn to the 2024 Six Nations, where they will be looking to pip Ireland to their title.
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