Who’s more useless – the Tories or the England rugby team?

In a curious way the decline of English rugby mirrors that of the Conservative party. Four years ago there was a spring in the step of both. England had trounced the All Blacks in the semi-final of the World Cup in Japan, and although they lost to South Africa in the final a week later there was a belief that the future was bright. As the Daily Telegraph summed it up in a headline, ‘England’s squad unity demonstrates cause for optimism’.  

Four years on and England are anything but optimistic ahead of next month’s World Cup. Under new coach Steve Borthwick they have won just three of their nine matches this year, and on Saturday they were humiliated by Fiji at Twickenham in one of the greatest upsets in rugby union history. The Pacific Islanders (population 937,417) beat England (population 56.3m) 30-22 and a deserved victory it was, the visitors playing with an enterprise and verve that was beyond the capabilities of their hapless hosts.