England entered round two on a run of 12 successive wins and yet the setbacks against Ireland and Scotland were of a team suddenly unsure of their identity.
Chaotic starts. Scrambled gameplans. Individual mistakes.
The suggestion that England kick too much is synonymous with Borthwick’s threeyear reign although moving away from a kick-based strategy has had adverse consequences in recent weeks.
According to Opta data, England ranked second bottom for kicks in play (44) and bottom for kick metres (1,025m) across the past two rounds and suffered convincing defeats in both.
An attack that was only outscored by South Africa last year has malfunctioned, conceding 16 turnovers at crucial times in the opposition 22, along with 32 turnovers because of unforced errors.
But perhaps the biggest failings on England’s rap sheet have been those of a ragged defence.
Borthwick’s men have conceded 24 line-breaks so far, with 58% of those coming in the 10m channels. An unrivalled 30% of their 74 missed tackles have also come out wide.
The secret is out – to beat England, play fast and play with width, a blueprint that Monye believes Italy are capable of replicating.
“Italy have the opportunity to threaten England, because it would seem that against teams that love to play wide England, at the moment, don’t have an antidote against that,” he said.
“Italy have really developed and the teams that like to express themselves and play a wide game can really get after England.”
