This week we will mainly focus on what went wrong for England, what went wrong for New Zealand and what went wrong in Munster…

Steve Borthwick’s bench press carried too little weight

At 22-14 years old and with Marcus Smith having just drilled his sixth kick of the evening right in the middle of the uprights, England were in a good position. And then it went terribly wrong.

Smith left for no apparent reason (the waterboy seemed to be hinting at something wrong with his eye) with scrum-half Ben Spencer, and with them went the zip and direction from the base of the England ruck. Ben Earl opted for a tired tackle which cost his team three points. It would have cost them three more with five minutes remaining. New Zealand not scored a try with the advantage. Mark Tele’a brushed aside two new replacements George Ford and Harry Randall as he headed to the line.

Earl emptied the tank like he always does and had a terrific game, but he looked like he deserved to look in the final 15 minutes, absolutely blown away. However, it was Chandler Cunningham-South – who also had an excellent game – who gave way to Alex Dombrandt, rather than Earl. Smith was a worthy candidate for man of the match and by no means looked gassed in his departure. Cunningham-South either, certainly not in the Earl way.

The debate over rugby’s oversized bench has raged for some time now, but with the scale of resources available to coaches, it has become commonplace on many teams that some players only play 50 or 60 minutes, while Others are favored. as difference makers from the bench and many changes are planned in advance. There’s also a feature, thankfully much less important now, where some players have barely more than five minutes to make a difference at the end of a game; think of the poor guy who had to play as France’s substitute for the last two years.

England v Australia: Steve Borthwick’s five Wallabies selection headaches clash as players ‘come knocking’ for places

There is an argument for pre-planning all of this, but England’s capitulation on Saturday is a reminder that plans can and should be dashed if a match goes well. There may have been data and information we didn’t have access to, but not removing Earl and Smith and Spencer was clearly the game changer the All Blacks were searching for in vain.

That the retired opener was England’s best representative of what was before him is particularly ironic; Steve BorthwickThe failure to do the same with his replacements appears to have cost England dearly.

The All Blacks still haven’t found him

Despite all the accusations launched by England Test However, if Ford’s drop had hit its mark, there would have been a strong case for New Zealand to have spoiled the match as well.

The All Blacks left at least three tries on the Twickenham pitch, a peculiar mix of out-of-sync decision-making and over-considered execution costing them those three clear-cut opportunities. Discipline was also lacking; while some of the penalties were deserved by England, the one for diving on George Furbank while he was on the ground after falling on a kick was ridiculously amateurish.

But what was most remarkable was the slowness of it all; England’s aggressive defending has at times helped turn New Zealand’s attacking shape into a flat line of players, but the hesitancy of New Zealand’s play continues to undermine their best efforts.

A tougher test awaits on Friday in the form of a world-ranked Irish team absolutely salivating at the prospect of avenging that World Cup defeat. The victory will have brought relief, but doubts about the new regime will not have been dispelled.

The Rowntree affair does not bode well for Munster

Munster hasn’t, it seems, been a good place to land for coaches in recent years. The acrimonious departure of Johann van Graan – who went on to do well at Bath – was far uglier than it should have been, but the departure of Graham Rowntree in mind.

More pertinently, Munster fans, who unlike Van Graan’s departure, are visibly angry at Rowntree’s departure, still need some answers.

Who’s hot and who’s not: All Blacks’ ‘generational talent’ just like Marcus Smith as URC teams wield the ax

Rumors abounded of disputes behind the scenes, notably with Peter O’Mahony, whose contract negotiations were lengthy and apparently far too soap opera for Rowntree’s tastes. And Munster haven’t had a good start to the season, even though they weren’t very brilliant in the season they won the title. URC either. Peaking at the right time is also an art, and Rowntree was very good at getting his team to the right moment.

But the most confusing aspect of it all was that, in a province where you have to be able to adopt and live the local mentality, Rowntree “got it”. He quickly noted the similarities between Munster’s manner and that of his career club Leicester, and thrived in being able to merge one with the other, something with which Van Graan, for all his obvious abilities, had a hard time.

Despite Munster’s slow start to the season, few fans are happy with the decision, especially as it was made for no real reason. Munster are now looking for a fourth coach in eight years, which represents a high turnover. The reasons – and problems could lie higher up the Munster chain of command than just the tracksuit.

LEARN MORE: David Campese’s Autumn Nations Series Team of the Week: All Blacks dominate as ‘deadly’ rookies