Will Greenwood has insisted there is no magic wand to solve England’s woes and Steve Borthwick’s side could be dragged into a dark place against Italy after their disastrous defeat to Ireland at the weekend.
England’s Six Nations side feel themselves under threat following a 42-21 defeat to Ireland, a week after a 30-21 defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield.
They will now try to keep their hopes alive against Italy on March 7 at the Stadio Olimpico.
“Luke Cowan-Dickie and Freddie Steward got carried away before half-time. I think there’s a reasonable argument that every player except Joe Hayes was under par. If you’re below par and you have a sub on the bench, you can get carried away,” Greenwood told Sky Sports News.
“Individually we lost to the opposing players, as a unit we lost to the opposing unit and overall we were brought clean to Ireland.
“There have been few positives, but there have been some positives over the last 12 to 15 months. What they have to do is grab hold of them, strengthen them and prepare for a very difficult trip to Rome. Italy will see this as an opportunity.”
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England are currently fourth in the table, with one win behind them against Wales, and their 12-Test winning streak ended against Scotland.
“There’s no magic wand or silver bullet to wipe everything away, which means everything will be rosy again in the England camp,” Greenwood continued. “It’s all about the details that the coaching staff gives the players enough information, and then they have to have the confidence to drive it themselves, start leading on the field, adapt to what’s going on in front of them and change things immediately, rather than waiting to be told on Monday morning.
“They have to gather all the information and put in a performance that hopefully makes the England fans proud. Last week, the Irish players really played for each other, for Andy Farrell and for their country, and it felt like England were fumbling their way into the game and trying to play by the book.”
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Sky Sports’ James Cole reports on England’s heavy defeat to Ireland at Twickenham in the Six Nations
Ireland’s recent struggles were due to a slow start, as Ireland led 17-0 after just 15 minutes against Scotland, but conceded 22 points in the first 30 minutes.
“Rugby is a violent sport, it’s physical, mental and emotional, it’s wild and you get injured. You have to put yourself in that place and surround yourself with it,” Greenwood continued.
“That’s probably the most damning thing to say. If you have to judge which team really wanted it, it was the Irish team. At the start of the second half, with the hairdryer treatment, I thought they were going to tangle with each other to get a good start, but all things being the same.”
“It became damage limitation. It’s a sad day for English rugby players to talk about damage limitation when they’re playing at Twickenham.”
Greenwood called for England to play with more confidence after their “demoralizing” performance against Ireland.
Italy lost 20-13 to Ireland, lost 33-8 to France, but their only win so far was an 18-15 win over Scotland.
“Italy over the last 20 to 25 years have gone from being a team that was feared solely for set pieces, and now they have flow, tempo and stride runners,” Greenwood said.
“They’re an outstanding side full of confidence. They know that England will be a little nervous, a little nervous and they’ll try to take their chances in the first 10 to 15 minutes and expose their weaknesses. And if that happens, it’s going to be a dark place for England to dig themselves out of. We’re all expecting a big bounce back.”
