England's groundhog-day defeats keep stacking up

Jack van Poortvliet has been here before.

Two years ago, as England's scrum-half huddled up under the posts, his face flashed up on Twickenham's big screens.

New Zealand flanker Dalton Papali'i had just picked off his pass and cantered in to give New Zealand a seven-point head start.

This time around it was a kick. Eben Etzebeth, looming like a skyscraper, had charged down Van Poortvliet to give South Africa a freebie try and puncture England's promising start.

It will have felt like all his fault. It wasn't.

England's forwards left him unprotected and vulnerable. Marcus Smith, his fly-half, had his own chance to clear and similarly found a South African torso.

And, ultimately, the errors added up.

For all England's unquestionable courage and energy, they have continually been undermined by mistakes this autumn. The foundations of a promising team always seem to be subsiding under their own slip-ups.

They have come in all different matches, in all different guises, from all areas of the team.

Against New Zealand, the crossed wires and fumbled drop-goal routine between Harry Randall and George Ford was most obvious.

Against Australia, England's failure to secure a kick-off – Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii disrupting Maro Itoje – on the last play was key. But so was a botched midfield move that gave Andrew Kellaway a walk-in.

Against South Africa, Ben Earl missed a vital tackle on Damian de Allende, before England's faint hopes of crowbarring their way to a comeback were dashed by Luke Cowan-Dickie's twitchy line-out throw and Itoje picking, not going and being caught at the back of a promising breakdown.

Those are individual moments, perhaps the most glaring ones. But you could pick plenty more.

After three straight home defeats for the first time since 2006, the spotlight certainly shouldn't shine on Van Poortvliet alone.

It must also extend to the sidelines to take in selections and systems.

Van Poortvliet's inclusion was the latest scrum-half shuffle in the absence of the injured Alex Mitchell. Ben Spencer went from first choice to third string in the space of a week. Randall, who started the majority of England's games in the 2022 Six Nations, doesn't seem trusted to do so now.

Stepping back in to start against the world champions, after more than a year out of the Test rugby, was therefore the stretch asked of Van Poortvliet.

The midfield combination of Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade – which seemed one of the most settled parts of England's side before the autumn – hasn't mustered much punch over the last three games.

Tactically, England were set up to exploit their height advantage on the wing. On the turf, it never worked out that way. Instead the scorching pace and side-stepping brilliance of Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse was decisive.

More generally, England came up short in the final quarter once more. Playing against 14 for half of it, they failed to score a single point.

Across 2024, they have conceded 30 more points than they have scored after the hour mark.

Whether it is fitness, lack of tactical finesse or a shortage of bench strength, the fade is real.

In attack, Plan A was to lean heavily and hopefully on Marcus Smith to produce a moment of magic. It doesn't seem to progress much further through the alphabet.

And in defence, they have conceded an average of 32 points a game so far this autumn, letting in 12 tries in three matches.

When it comes to sorting these problems little is made easier by an environment that chews through coaches at an alarming rate.

England needed to be spotless to make up a chasm in class and form on South Africa. In Paris, in last year's Rugby World Cup semi-final, they very nearly were.

On Saturday though, the blemishes were obvious and plentiful - and this autumn they seem to be setting in, rather than shifting.

A bad day in the office seems to have become the standard.

Against a ragged Japan, even an error-strewn England should be good enough. They saw off the Brave Blossoms by 35 points in the summer. Whatever mind games and inside information Eddie Jones has is unlikely to stop a repeat defeat for Japan.

One win would be scant return from an autumn that promised more however. And all the time, the Six Nations, renewed rivalries with the northern hemisphere's best and fears England are just not as good as we thought, lurk like Etzebeth around a breakdown.