Tom Curry says ‘blame England players for crumbling not Steve Borthwick’ – here is why

Tom Curry is adamant that England’s players should shoulder responsibility for their habit of falling away in the final quarter rather than head coach Steve Borthwick.

The flanker admits that the squad “have let themselves down” with their indiscipline late in games as England seek to relieve the pressure of only winning one of their last six matches against tier-one nations.

England have held the lead in their past four matches against such opponents at the hour mark but have failed to see the job out on each occasion, suffering three successive defeats by New Zealand and one to France. They also led 15-6 heading into the final quarter against South Africa in last year’s World Cup semi-final.

Stats compiled by Opta Sports show that in those five games the cumulative penalty count is 21-8 against England in the final 20 minutes. That trend was all too readily apparent in their 24-22 defeat by the All Blacks last Saturday when they conceded five penalties after only conceding two in the first hour.

And while Borthwick has borne the brunt of criticism, particularly for the timing of his substitutions, Curry insists that it is the players who need to step up. “I think discipline-wise, we let ourselves down,” Curry said. “At 40 minutes, it was one penalty [conceded], 60 minutes, two penalties, then at 80 minutes it had built up. A, it was three points, but B, it gave them territory and they are pretty clinical. That is a big factor.

“The last quarter, we as players definitely have to stand up. It’s about the full 80 minutes. There’s stuff we were doing in the last quarter that we weren’t doing in the first 60. We can’t be making excuses; as players we have to step up and be more consistent. We obviously made mistakes and we’ve recognised that. It is frustrating, but we just have to step up.

“There’s nothing coming externally that we haven’t heard. The coaches… we’ve had all the right messages. We as players need to step up. There are no excuses. There has never been a question of effort. There’s never been a question of what we need to do as a team. It’s all about tying it all together.”

Borthwick also identified the late glut of penalties as the key factor in their third successive defeat by the All Blacks. “It allows the opposition into our half, and you spend the next period defending,” Borthwick said. “So that lost us field position. That then meant we couldn’t have the opportunity to attack in their half, so fundamentally that’s the key element, improving that.”

Perhaps the costliest penalty was Ben Earl’s no arms tackle on Pasilio Tosi which reversed a jackal turnover by Maro Itoje and resulted in Damian McKenzie reducing the gap to 22-17. In the aftermath, Borthwick reviews each individual penalty decision with the player and Curry admits it is on the players to take accountability.

“Ben’s been brilliant in terms of that,” Curry said. “Steve will probably have that chat, I don’t know, but I gave away a penalty and Steve had a chat with me, so I assume that’s what’s happened.

“We know that in this team that isn’t good enough. So we need to be really smart on that. I think Steve’s brilliant at that in terms of training and where the game’s going. He recognises it a lot in terms of the discipline trends, winning games, how many penalties we need to be under.

“So for us as players, we’re definitely aware of it. They are so hot on it in training, which is good. But I think there’s moments where there’s different reasons and we’ve just got to make sure we don’t let those reasons creep in. You obviously know because the referee’s blown his whistle but you need to look back and see what the crack is. If it’s half a yard in front, that’s just lazy, isn’t it? We need to be so much better.”

England’s woes down to player errors rather than deeper issues with system

How many of England’s losses have been caused by the players on the field, compared to the decisions made by management off it? Telegraph Sport investigates.

France 33 England 31

March 2024 , England led 30-31 with five minutes left

Technically it is the player’s fault given Earl left himself open to being penalised, although you could make a strong point that similar tackles often happen regularly during Tests and are overlooked.

Now with the context of England’s three defeats by New Zealand, this game is the easiest to forgive. In a game where both sides threw haymakers throughout, they just failed to land the final punch.

New Zealand 16 England 15

July 2024, England led 10-15 after 48 minutes

Earl again gave away what proved to be the winning points but this time was unlucky, trapped into a ruck having made a tackle after England had given up field position due to a harried kick from George Furbank into touch. The game came down to one final England line-out with the clock in the red, except they simply could not put enough pressure on New Zealand’s defence, with the hosts threatening for jackals until Furbank was tackled far behind the gain line and turned over by Tupou Vaa’i and Dalton Papali’i.

England’s attack lacked the same impetus it showed in the games a few months earlier against Ireland and France, which made this feel like a combination of system and players being at fault.

New Zealand 24 England 17

July 2024, England led 13-17 after 49 minutes

The timing of England’s lead looks familiar, doesn’t it? At Eden Park the scrum was England’s downfall. Earl had little platform to work with at the base and Bevan Rodd was shunted backwards by Fletcher Newell in the closing moments, from which the All Blacks won another penalty up the field at the line-out for Damian McKenzie to give New Zealand a seven-point lead.

Still, England had one final chance at a draw, setting up a maul under 10 metres out with about 25 seconds left. Jamie George broke off the base but was held up by Beauden Barrett, illegally, England insisted. It did not matter because England were penalised for obstruction anyway.

Curry talks about England being their worst enemies: giving away a soft free-kick at a five-metre line-out late on in Auckland, or the choice to go for the corner for that late maul rather than kicking the points, and therefore getting a chance to potentially win the game by winning the restart. These are the decisions from players on the field which you wonder about.

England 22 New Zealand 24

November 2024, England led 22-14 after 60 minutes

Which brings us to Saturday and a familiar pattern of England’s attack drying up, their scrum collapsing, their composure wilting, but with extra flaws given their line-out was not fluid and their defence missed tackles for Mark Telea’s decisive try, which, like McKenzie’s touchline conversion, was magnificent. A no-arms tackle from Earl, this time clearer, had previously helped the All Blacks get back within five points.

Still, England had two shots at victory. Perhaps a rust-free George Ford does not miss that penalty hitting the right-hand post, but the drop-goal execution even after a scrum going in reverse comes down to the players. “It’s been drilled a lot,” was Borthwick’s measured reply afterwards, and blaming him for replacing his half-backs feels rash, suggesting that Randall and Ford could not manage a drop goal between them or that they had not practised it.

While there is an argument that better coaching or personnel could help that scrum imbalance, it is hard to see how the missed penalty or drop goal routine at the death are anything other than player error. Although if England fail for the fifth time in six Tests to get over the line against Australia then you have to question how players are being prepared psychologically to close out Test matches.