Monday 5 October 2015 13:11, UK
England's balance in the back-row has long been a concern but nowhere has it been so cruelly exposed than in their 33-13 World Cup defeat to Australia at Twickenham.
Michael Hooper and David Pocock had a field day at the breakdown. Whether it was hunting as a duo or being split up, they helped Australia turn the ball over nine times - often when England were in the strike zone.
Concerns over how England attack the breakdown has been an issue for over three years now and Neil Back, who wore the No 7 shirt in England's 2003 World Cup triumph, says they have just not been good enough.
"England's back-row has not been consistently good - particularly at the breakdown and the key areas," said Back on England's World Cup Verdict show.
"You only have to look back to the Lions section - two Welshmen were picked ahead of Chris Robshaw in the No 7 shirt and that was justified by their level of performance.
"Michael Cheika came into the Australia job 12 months ago and said 'this is what I want in terms of players' and he made players that were unavailable (due to playing overseas) available so that he could get the best players.
"Steffon Armitage has to be a talking point - we were discussing him 12, 24 months ago when he was European Player of the Year and changes should have been made then to give him time to integrate into the team. We will never know [if Armitage would have made a difference] but we lost the battle convincingly against two opponents who were absolutely superb."
The myth of Armitage?
Dean Ryan questions whether Armitage was the right man for the job for England but says that England should have got him into the team to see if he was an option - and if not then looked elsewhere to find an alternative.
"There is a danger that all this Steffon chat comes back - it has been around for three years and he has become the best international player by not playing," said the former England back-rower.
"England have been really stable in their selection but it is probably England's willingness to look at it that has caused the most criticism. Lancaster has not looked at an alternative like a Matt Kvesic. That is what has put him down a dead end without anywhere to go. Lancaster chose the back five's work rate over specialists.
"I have mixed views on Steffon, I have seen him play Test rugby. He is outstanding for Toulon and the best place to be as a No 7 is with a pack on the front foot.
"England should have brought him in though, even just for the World Cup year so that you can judge him as an international player and not as a myth who sits across the channel and is growing in stature by not playing at all.
"The game is changing, it has changed in the last 12 months - the fact that Australia are picking both Pocock and Hooper together shows that the game is starting to break up a little bit and the only way to control it is by controlling that breakdown. England had no answer."
