England v Samoa
Rowntree: We've underperformed
ESPN Staff
November 21, 2014
Forwards coach Graham Rowntree admits England have under-performed © Getty Images
Enlarge

Forwards coach Graham Rowntree admits England have underperformed this November as they prepare for their penultimate game of the series against Samoa.

Three-point defeats by New Zealand and South Africa bring their losing run to five Tests and, with just 10 months to go until next year's home World Cup, time is running out to build a team capable of toppling the southern-hemisphere giants.

"We're thoroughly p***ed off. As players and coaches, we spent two and a half days sulking. I'm in my own little bubble. It's foggy," the forwards coach said. "Our performances have been well documented. We have a lot of things to put right there.

"It's been a tough week - one of the hardest I've experienced. There have been some very frank discussions. We're really unhappy with our two defeats. Although they're by a total of six points, we know we're underperforming and that hurts. There were plenty of harsh words from everyone involved. We've had some very frank discussions. You spend two and a half days beating yourselves up, showing lads clips of what to do better because we can't have things reoccurring as they are."

Ahead of their fixture against big-hitting Samoa, England have made one positional and five personnel changes, with George Ford making his first start at fly-half and Owen Farrell shifting to centre. Rob Webber, James Haskell, Ben Morgan and Ben Youngs also come in.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.