England vs Uruguay: Chris Robshaw keeps driving but end of road is near

Robshaw is cryptic at the best of times, though it was hard to mistake the look of solemnity on his face as he went through the self-same pre-match motions as he had last Saturday

England captain Chris Robshaw is tackled by Matias Beer (Getty Images)

The poster proclaiming Chris Robshaw’s winning qualities was dropped into the most prominent hoarding outside this stadium’s main entrance and that is one of many decisions which have come to look regrettable in hindsight.

The England captain was not supposed to have arrived here under such straitened circumstances as last night’s, which required some community singing of a popular local number to get the party going. “By now, you should’ve somehow realised what you gotta do.” The Oasis “Wonderwall” lyric was not heaven-sent for the occasion.

Robshaw is cryptic at the best of times, though it was hard to mistake the look of solemnity on his face as he went through the self-same pre-match motions as he had last Saturday when the minutes ticked down to the match which brought all that England have worked towards crashing in on them.

Stuart Lancaster stood behind him under the posts in the then half-empty stadium, reflecting. The noise of the huddle followed, certainly, with the captain bellowing final instructions as he always does, but the sound and the fury do not claim the golden trophy the players ran out past.

It takes more visceral, technical qualities – speed of mind and thought, dexterity; game intelligence. Even against the blue shirts of the world’s 19th best rugby nation, an absence of all of them was evident.

For a time we witnessed a team desperate – too desperate – to deliver something before this tournament finally died on them. It explained the ignominy of being on the wrong side of the scoreboard equation for five early minutes, with more of the defensive indiscipline that has characterised the last three weeks.

But when England did break through, the game settled into a pattern of carelessness and imprecision, Lancaster’s players often labouring to clear out at the breakdown and so finding themselves hemmed in, struggling to take flight and soar.

Hopefully Lancaster had spared them the ordeal of watching Australia and Wales, two sides at the peak of their game, processing the ball in fractions of seconds, because that titanic collision served only to underline that this England side cannot lay claim to any kind of supremacy.

Robshaw could no more take the full blame for this than he could for the fateful closing moments against Wales at Twickenham, two weeks ago, which you sense will always define him. But in his attempt to seize the loose ball which Danny Care cast at him at the 20-minute stage – he took his eye off if and spilled it – there was a metaphor for the way this World Cup has shown his game to lack the slickness and adroitness needed to win at the highest level.

A line-out ball as the first half ebbed away – with the stadium drifting into the realm of Mexican waves – revealed the same. The maul was not set properly, Robshaw blocked Care’s path and possession broke down.

The scoreline did not disguise the ordinariness

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Uruguay may have been this tournament’s weakest side but they did enough to show that every side can tackle and that every side with ambition must deliver fluently. Lancaster has defended his captain to the last but Graham Rowntree observed the shortcoming at the ruck last summer. “There are things that he has to be better at,” he said. “For Chris, that means finding another level in everything he does, but… more [at] breakdowns than anything else.”

We also saw the qualities that make you see why Lancaster loves Robshaw. The work-rate will always be there in the drives and the tackles. It was his drive which allowed Care the pick and go around the corner and provide the third try – with Nick Easter on his shoulder, ready to collect and deliver the points.

His completion of the full 80 minutes maintained Robshaw’s remarkable record of never having been substituted by this coach. But the scoreline did not disguise the ordinariness.

An enigmatic banner flying at the stadium’s southern fringe last night stated: “Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” Robshaw, who has probably captained his side for the last time, may wonder whether that sentiment really applies to being nominated as an England World Cup captain.