{"id":287954,"date":"2023-08-26T22:34:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T22:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=287954"},"modified":"2023-08-26T22:34:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T22:34:19","slug":"sir-clive-woodward-this-is-not-the-time-for-england-to-panic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/rugby-union\/sir-clive-woodward-this-is-not-the-time-for-england-to-panic\/","title":{"rendered":"SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: This is NOT the time for England to panic"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: England are in the biggest hole they have ever been in. But this is NOT the time to panic. Only one game matters &#8211; Steve Borthwick&#8217;s side need to focus on their Rugby World Cup opener against Argentina<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span>England were beaten by Fiji 30-22 in their final Rugby World Cup warm up game<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>It is the first time that England have lost to Fiji and their fifth loss in six games\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Steve Borthwick&#8217;s play Argentina on September 9 in their first World Cup game\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>England were outplayed by Fiji, but now is not the time to panic. That\u2019s life, these things happen and only one game matters \u2014 the opening World Cup pool match against Argentina.<\/p>\n<p>You could not have planned these four warm-up games to go worse than they have, it\u2019s the poorest build-up England have ever had going into a World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But now is the time to draw a line in the sand. If England beat Argentina in Marseille a week on Saturday then the whole thing changes. But if they lose to them, they are really in a hole.<\/p>\n<p>If England don\u2019t get out of their pool then the sport of rugby in this country will have taken a backward step.<\/p>\n<p>But these four warm-up games were not World Cup matches and coach Steve Borthwick must tell the squad, beat Argentina and all bets are off.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/26\/21\/74756895-0-image-a-38_1693083426808.jpg\" height=\"379\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England were beaten 30-22 by Fiji in their final warm-up match before the Rugby World Cup<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/26\/21\/74756963-0-image-a-40_1693083468105.jpg\" height=\"502\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Fiji scored three tries in the second half to secure their first win against England at Twickenham, while also ensuring the Red Rose suffered their fifth loss in six games<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/26\/21\/74756933-0-image-a-41_1693083510608.jpg\" height=\"362\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Jonny May (pictured) scored on his return to the international side with Marcus Smith and Joe Marchant also scoring<\/p>\n<p>England are in amazing side of the draw and if they can get past the Pumas they are on a roll because one game alters everything \u2014 it\u2019s sink or swim time.<\/p>\n<p>If I were in charge I would say, \u2018We are where we are and this is the biggest hole we have ever been in, but if we beat the Pumas it all kicks off again.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We have one game to get the show back on the road. Go and beat Argentina because if we don\u2019t we could lose to Japan and Samoa as well.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The last month could not have gone worse, but the players have got to hold their hands up and take notice of what everyone is saying. Let\u2019s face it, they have not played well. They have just got to cop it.<\/p>\n<p>I feel for Borthwick in a way. It\u2019s a tough job and he\u2019s having to learn it fast, and that\u2019s not easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s got to stay calm. At 43, he\u2019s still a young coach and he needs people at Twickenham to get round him. They should be saying, \u2018Don\u2019t panic. Beat Argentina and we are away.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/26\/22\/74756995-0-image-a-42_1693083607801.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England will take on Argentina in their opening Rugby World Cup match on September 9\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/26\/22\/74756945-0-image-a-44_1693083655869.jpg\" height=\"419\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England will need to turn things around after their poor form during the warm-ups having lost now to Fiji, Wales and Ireland<\/p>\n<p>He will hand in his final squad list for the World Cup on Monday and he has got to make some big calls for that Argentina game. I can\u2019t think of a bigger match \u2014 they can\u2019t afford to lose, not just for the World Cup but for English rugby.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus Smith and George Ford played decently against Fiji, but apart from them I can\u2019t name a single player who put his name in the frame. And any other team that has seen England recently will have noticed they can\u2019t defend off-loads.<\/p>\n<p>Fiji were brilliant and some teams have had brilliant build-ups. South Africa smashed the All Blacks at Twickenham on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They have an amazing forward pack like they had four years ago, but this time they have got an amazing backline as well. It shows you don\u2019t need to be planning for four years for this. You need good players and a good coach.<\/p>\n<p>I was watching the Springboks thinking, I\u2019ve never seen a team play in such a logical way. Hopefully, England can do something similar in a fortnight.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12449185\/SIR-CLIVE-WOODWARD-England-biggest-hole-NOT-time-panic-Steve-Borthwicks-need-focus-Rugby-World-Cup-Opener-against-Argentina.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: England are in the biggest hole they have ever been in. But this is NOT the time to panic. Only one game matters &#8211; Steve Borthwick&#8217;s side need to focus on their Rugby World Cup opener against Argentina England were beaten by Fiji 30-22 in their final Rugby World Cup warm up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: This is NOT the time for England to panic - Sports Life Tale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/rugby-union\/sir-clive-woodward-this-is-not-the-time-for-england-to-panic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: This is NOT the time for England to panic - Sports Life Tale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: England are in the biggest hole they have ever been in. 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