Northampton head coach Sam Vesty has questioned whether England have lost their identity under Steve Borthwick.
The RFU are currently holding a review into the team’s under-performance in the Six Nations in which England lost four games for the first time in the championship since 1976.
Under scrutiny will be not only England’s results but the style of play which has been criticised as being overly kick-heavy and conservative.
Borthwick, who has spoken of his desire to develop England’s game from the basic approach which took England to the World Cup semi-final in 2023, has referred to the weight of the jersey proving restrictive.
However Vesty, who coaches England half-backs Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith as well as Tommy Freeman, Henry Pollock, Alex Coles and Fraser Dingwall at Northampton, thinks this is a red herring.
“It is the same with all of the other countries as well. They all have a weight of expectation,” Vesty told BBC Radio Northampton’s The Saints Show.
“Scotland move the ball. Italy move the ball… all those teams that we have just mentioned – if I asked you what their identity was, you could pretty clearly say something, couldn’t you? I’m not sure you can say that with England at the moment.”
