England need another dramatic form flip to avoid worst Six Nations

LONDON, March 13 : England will run out in Paris on Saturday seemingly as the extras in France's spectacular title show but, despite their dire displays in the last three games, history shows they are more than capable of being the ultimate party poopers.

Steve Borthwick's three-year reign has been a roller-coaster ride, with doom and gloom regularly alleviated by joy - but not for long.

When England lost to Wales, Ireland, and Fiji at home, in World Cup warm-up games in August 2023, they arrived at the tournament with few expectations outside the camp.

Things switched spectacularly, though, in their opening pool game in Marseille, when, despite losing Tom Curry to a third-minute red card, they overwhelmed higher-ranked Argentina as George Ford kicked them to a defining 27-10 win.

Borthwick, the ultimate stats-driven pragmatist, had found a game plan that he could implement at short notice and though they hardly tore up trees through the tournament, England were within two minutes of beating eventual champions South Africa in the semi-finals and finished third.

A decent Six Nations followed but a tough 33-31 point loss to France in their final game turned out to be the start of a run of seven successive defeats against Tier One teams - albeit four by New Zealand and South Africa.

They ended that streak with a last-minute victory over France in the 2025 Six Nations, and won their next 11 games, peaking with a first home win over the All Blacks since 2012.

That sent England into this year's Championship with high hopes of a first title since 2020 but, after dismantling Wales in their first game, everything has fallen apart.

The 31-20 defeat by Scotland was poor but, instead of the expected bounce back on home soil, they were