England icon Mike Tindall has admitted that he would “prefer” the Red Roses to lose to Scotland in Saturday’s Calcutta Cup.
England have won both Six Nations matches so far and pose the biggest threat to Ireland’s title, but Tindall posed an intriguing question and surprising admission.
“They’re not going to beat Ireland,” he said on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast. “If England came away four from five in this tournament but played how they’re playing right now, or they came away two from five but their next two games have been 42-40, 31-29 and they’ve gone down to the wire and played amazing rugby, what would people want to see?
“Two out of five is bad, but I would say that one because it means they’re going somewhere. I would prefer to see a 31-29 loss.
“I’m not sure I agree. England at the moment need performances rather than wins. If you win playing limited rugby then you’re never getting better, whereas if you go out and actually have a performance, you can always come back to eke out the win at the end.
“England need to figure out where they are going forward. At the moment, it feels like it’s all about consolidation, about structures, how we’re exiting, what we’re doing in these areas and, once we know that off by heart, he (Steve Borthwick) might loosen the purse strings.”
