What's gone wrong with England's Six Nations strugglers?

With two games gone in the 2008 Six Nations Championship, and a fortnight's  break upon us, this seems like a good time to assess what has gone so badly wrong for England - and what could be done to remedy it.

A disastrous, self-destructive performance against Wales and an incredibly unconvincing display in Rome leave England looking bereft of ideas, class and backbone. The World Cup finalists, surely among the pre-tournament favourites, now have a week to sort out their problems before a make-or-break game against Les Bleus in Paris. If they play as they did in the previous two games, England will get torn apart by the resurgent French, and it will be the final nail in their 2008 Championship coffin.

There is no doubt Brian Ashton's men made a bright start in their two opening matches and should have won both convincingly, based on their first-half performances. However, in both games their performance and discipline collapsed after the interval, and none of the experienced players stepped up to steady the ship and set an example as a Lawrence Dallaglio or Martin Johnson would have done.

At least by the end of the World Cup campaign, England were doing the basics well, winning lineout ball, not giving away too many silly penalties and playing the percentages to grind out results. Somewhere along the line this has been lost between then and now. The lack of discipline and focus has meant ball retention has been incredibly low and has resulted in costly turnovers, failed lineouts and unnecessary points lost.

This is a serious problem and lack of leadership from Steve Borthwick, Andy Gomarsall and Johnny Wilkinson in both games compounded the problem and was particularly damaging. England have not scored a try in the second half of a game since beating Tonga at the World Cup and the sooner Ashton works out why, the better.  

It would be unfair on Ashton not to acknowledge the series of injuries that have blighted his side. Losing players of the calibre of David Strettle, Lewis Moody, Mike Tindall, Tom Rees and, worst of all, captain Phil Vickery, would be a blow to any team in the tournament - and it has affected England badly.

But Ashton needs to adapt his game-plan accordingly and he doesn’t seem to be doing that. He has tried to get the side playing expansive rugby but England simply do not have the personnel fit to play like that for the whole 80 minutes. The attempt to do so is just leading to the horrific mistakes we have seen from the likes of Iain Balshaw and Danny Cipriani.

The bottom line is that England have to get back to basics for the game in Paris. There isn’t the strength and depth in the squad to beat the French at running rugby, and Ashton’s men just need to grind out the result with a powerful display from the forwards and efficient point-taking from the back line. It may not be pretty, but right now Ashton must play to his team’s strengths. Winning and getting the job done is what matters most. Confidence must be built amongst the players, and a win against the flying French would start that process.

Also he must build on the few successes of the first two games; the performances of Paul Sackey, Toby Flood and Lesley Vainikolo in particular were good and need to be encouraged.

Not only that, but the experienced players in the squad must set an example. Discipline will be key, the silly mistakes must be cut out and the percentages must be hit if England’s faltering campaign is to be reignited.