SMASHED, absolutely smashed. In every significant phase of the game, smashed. A team and bunch of coaches who have been allowed to talk a good game for too long, a back-up at Twickenham that has been allowed to produce flannel instead of elite preparation.
They lost to an outstanding South Africa team and yet what excuse can there be, even against an opposition of rare quality, when at the end of the game you barely want to contest a scrummage or a loose ball? It was as if the white flag was flying above a stunned Twickenham.
The headlong decline in English rugby, which began when Sir Clive Woodward walked out of Twickenham in 2004, shows no sign of slowing. England still pick