Joe Marler has offered a word of advice for England coach Steve Borthwick (Image: Getty)
What a difference a last-minute try makes, right? found themselves just seconds away from back-to-back defeats to kick off their campaign prior to Elliot Daly’s late drive for the line against France on Saturday.
A cool, calm and composed conversion from Fin Smith followed, sparking scenes of celebration within the England camp after a morale-draining couple of months.
and crucially alleviated the pressure on the shoulders of coach Steve Borthwick, who had come under plenty of criticism prior to Saturday’s win.
But the respite will only last so long, given England face a potential banana skin opponent in their next Six Nations outing, with Scotland making the trip to Twickenham after the week’s break.
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How England approach the Calcutta Cup contest was a topic of conversation during the , with former Red Rose prop Joe Marler making a humorous tongue-in-cheek comment about “dropping all the players”.
Asked by the show’s presenter Ugo Monye, Marler was questioned on how Borthwick goes about setting his team up for the Scotland game, given the 15 who finished the France contest performed so well.
Marler replied: “Just drop them all, or pick them all. I don’t know.
“I’m so glad I don’t actually have to make the call. Because what do you do, you can’t change a winning team?”
“Drop them all, or pick them all!”Joe Marler’s assessment of how England should line-up against Scotland next up!
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport)
Fellow retired international Chris Ashton was quick to chime in though, suggesting one thing Borthwick could tweak to keep the good vibes flowing over.
He said: “What you can change, [Alex] Mitchell was a big loss in the autumn and we all spoke about him, albeit a different team, but one guy that did it was [Ollie] Chessum. He’s a guy that has to start next week off the bench.”
Marler wasn’t convinced, hitting back with: “But he did such a good job coming off the bench, there’s an argument to be had that you do it again… you lure them in.”
Chris Jones, who was appearing on the panel as the ’s rugby correspondent, added: “He’ll play the same [number] 10 [and] 15 I think, remember last year he wanted a counter-attacking fullback because of Scotland’s long kicking game…
“So if he’s sticking to that horses for courses, I think he’ll go Fin [Smith] 10 and Marcus [Smith] 15 again in two weeks.”
England face Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday, 22 February.