Richard Wigglesworth has compared England’s strife to Manchester United’s troubles (Image: Getty)
Assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth has compared England’s strife to Manchester United’s troubles and reckons both outfits should be given time to click.
Reds fan Wigglesworth claims he can see signs ’s side are improving and the Red Rose squad are doing the same ahead of Saturday’s clash with the French.
United, like England, have endured a torrid last few months winning just eight out of 24 games compared with Steve Borthwick’s side winning five out of their last 13 Tests.
But Wigglesworth insists last month’s FA Cup win over proved his football club are on the up – and England’s three-try defeat to Ireland last Saturday did the same.
The former scrum-half said: “You think about the people, the hard work, the challenges they face and the bits of upside that you see. For , you’re seeing players against and I’m seeing them sprint back and I’m thinking as a fan that I have not seen this for a long time.
“He says he wants them to run like wild dogs and I’m seeing that. Little bits at a time that he’s getting in. We’re seeing green shoots of this England team; we play fast, we’re aggressive, and we scored tries against Ireland.
“I am fascinated by the coach – he’s the real deal. He’s honest and he looks as though he values the right things which is that you cannot win unless you can run.
“The club have kept doing this thing where they’re changing, they’re changing, they’re changing and now they’re in their worst moment ever. As a fan, I’m thinking someone has to be given time to grab this and sort it out.
“Otherwise, the whole thing starts again: staffing, players all change. That is proven to not be the way to do it.”
Borthwick and Wigglesworth only had 10 days prep, to get a squad drawn from nine clubs, ready for last weekend’s 27-22 defeat in Dublin.
They have copped predictable flak for another loss which saw England play well for a half then tail off in the second and let the game slip.
And Wigglesworth recognises fans are getting frustrated at seeing the same movie time and again.
He added: “Amorim probably wishes he’d only had one match to be honest. And we wish we’d had 20.
“I would never criticise fans for having an opinion which comes out of passion. I value winning. I’m not asking for anyone to not be passionate about results.
“But not everyone gets to win straightaway. We are working to make that happen, but there is evidence to back up the best way of creating good teams is over time. We’re going to get there.”
To get there this weekend, England have to get past Antoine Dupont and Wigglesworth recognises the scrum-half’s place as the world’s best player.
“He kicks off both feet, he’s strong, competitive, he makes good decisions, but it’s his ability to get out of trouble,” said Wigglesworth.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. The ball will bobble out of a ruck but somehow he gets it when he shouldn’t do and then rarely gets tackled. He will bounce out, beat three defenders and put a cross-kick in. Or he’ll shrug you off, keep the ball moving. I’ve never seen anyone do it so well.”