England's incremental progress obscured by run of defeats

LONDON : Seven defeats in 11 games in 2024, five in a row and three in succession at Twickenham has a horrible look for England but, as coach Steve Borthwick keeps insisting, they are probably not that far away from switching that painful record around.

Saturday’s 29-20 loss to South Africa followed a last-gasp defeat by Australia and three close New Zealand losses, so the quality of the opposition, as Borthwick also pointed out, has been high.

In all five of those games England played good rugby, showing far more attacking intent and finishing quality than in their kicking-based drive to the World Cup semi-finals just over a year ago.

"This year has been one of transitioning a lot of young players into this England team, which I think have an incredibly exciting future and it's also transitioning the way we're trying to play," Borthwick said.

"You can see when the team moves the ball, you see the talent and pace that we have... we just have to make all those moments count and I'm very confident about our trajectory."

England certainly played their part in a rip-roaring first half on Saturday, though their tries by Ollie Sleightholme and Sam Underhill were more than cancelled out by a burst of three Springbok tries in 10 minutes.

The hosts got their noses in front with a 52nd-minute Marcus Smith penalty but that proved to be their only score of the second half, despite spending a huge amount of time in and around the South Africa 22 and the world champions being down to 14 for 10 minutes.

Borthwick identified that failure to turn territory and pressure into points as the key reason they failed to get over the line, and he, more than anyone, is well aware that it is just the latest in a long line of late-game losses.

The coach’s