By Ben Dirs

England must regroup after being outclassed by Tri-Nations sides in the autumn

The honeymoon is over, reality has set in and, after just seven months in the job, team manager Martin Johnson's credentials are being questioned by more impatient England fans.

Three comprehensive defeats to southern hemisphere sides in the autumn revealed the size of Johnson's task. If there are not marked signs of improvement in the Six Nations Championship, more hawkish members of the media will start sharpening their talons.

BBC Sport asked four former England internationals with 184 caps between them, plus a Welsh legend for an outsider's perspective, what is going wrong and what, if anything, can be done.

You look at the schools and there are loads of great kids coming through, and you think, 'where do they all disappear to'? The skill levels have just been dire, they just need to play better.

It's why I don't envy Johnson in the slightest, because he just doesn't have stand-out players to bring in and turn things round.

AH: Creativity is lacking. Individuals should be able to try to work out their own way how they're going to attack a game because a lot of them seem to come off the field looking like they've just failed an exam rather than lost a rugby match.

JP: The skill from a management and coaching point of view is picking people who play the same game. The side that I played in played very simple, basic rugby, but all the players involved were the best at that style of play: a forward-orientated game.

Sometimes the 'best' players don't necessarily need to be there; instead it's all about picking partnerships Jonathan Davies

Now, we've got some guys who are good at that style of play, other guys who are good at the loose style of game, some backs who bring the ball back to the forwards, some backs who like to go wide, and I don't think you can gel those things together.

Martin Johnson's job is to pick a team to play a style of rugby he wants to play, not pick a team and then try to impose a style of rugby on that team.

AH: The whole backline needs to work as a cohesive unit and attack the game with a bit more pace and vigour. They're allowing the forwards to dictate the pattern of the game and that shouldn't happen.

Most of the experienced players in the squad are in the forwards and usually the experienced guys dominate the way the team play.

The younger guys in the backs need to understand more how to manoeuvre the forwards round the field and keep them out of the way so they can actually play some attacking rugby.

JD: Sometimes the 'best' players don't necessarily need to be there; instead it's all about picking partnerships.

You've got to go with teams, half-backs who are a good team, centres who complement each other and a back three who work for each other.

JP: Steve Borthwick may be a great skipper off the field but I don't think he's a particularly good one on it. He doesn't have enough authority with his team or with the officials. He certainly isn't a Martin Johnson.

Some have questioned Steve Borthwick's leadership qualities

If you're looking for a long-term alternative, someone like James Haskell has the dynamism to be England captain - he's not shy in coming forward in his play and what he says.

MB: I think Steve Borthwick should be the captain. I don't see an obvious replacement for him at the moment, he's a good player and a good captain. I don't think he's the long-term answer, but he probably doesn't feel he's the long-term answer either.

There's a lack of leadership around the whole team. There are a lot of young players there just getting through internationals trying not to make mistakes and make sure they don't lose their place.

JG: I've always thought you pick your best 15 before selecting your captain and, if you do that, Borthwick wouldn't be there.

JG: Look at Australia and New Zealand, all their conditioning is geared towards international rugby. Ours has been dominated by the clubs.

When Sir Clive Woodward was there, Dave Reddin kept a very close eye on the England players and made sure their conditioning was always excellent. That seems to have dropped off now.

JP: The lack of quick ball is down to the style of play that's prevalent in the Guinness Premiership, which is an attitude of killing the ball. Also our scrum-halves don't seem to get behind our attacking players as well as they do in the southern hemisphere.

But it comes back to the scrum. If you don't have a solid platform then you don't have back-rows going forward and it's very difficult to clear the ball quickly.

606: DEBATE To see Jeremy Guscott say England don't have the talent that they used to is infuriating Fonz123

MB: England are committing too many players to the breakdown at the moment and that's a confidence thing. It's a blow that Tom Rees is going to be out because he was starting to develop into a top-class open-side flanker on the international scene.

Again, it's all down to more time together, more discipline and realising you don't have to chuck the whole pack in to clear ball.

JD: Unless you get quick ball it makes things very difficult for the backs. With defences being so tight these days, you have to create quick ball.

You've got two options with slow ball, either you try and get over the gain line or you kick it. But what usually happens when England are under pressure is that they try to run slow ball.

It doesn't matter how good are you, you can't run slow ball and shovel rubbish down the line. You put yourself under pressure and your confidence goes. Look at the southern hemisphere teams, they never run slow ball.

JG: There are two reasons why the English forwards haven't been producing quick ball - they have been physically dominated and have not been streetwise.

At scrum-half, Danny Care hasn't been providing quick enough ball either. I would just sit him down and clarify his role - get the ball, get it out and don't run with it unless there's a gap.

JP: We've been picking people for their mobility rather than their scrummaging ability. You can only carry the ball in the loose if you've done the basics right.

Probyn feels hooker Dylan Hartley is not ready for international rugby

Andrew Sheridan is a great ball-carrier but in terms of scrummaging, he's not that great. He's very powerful but his shape and size makes it very difficult to get down into a solid scrummaging position against shorter opposition and use his strength.

Because we've not had the dominance it's meant our back row have not been able to play and if our back row can't play then obviously our backs can't play.

You pick props that no-one wants to play against and Wasps prop Tim Payne has proved his worth. Julian White offers experience and is still one of the best scrummaging tight-heads in the Premiership.

At hooker, I don't think Dylan Hartley's really stepped up to the plate to be honest. Lee Mears had an outstanding set of autumn internationals and was one of the best ball-carriers.

MB: The front row is solid and Sheridan is a guy you want there full-time at loose-head and at tight-head Phil Vickery is starting to show some really good form.

Mears is a lively character but I suppose we're looking for a bit more size. I question Hartley's mental approach, but he gives you that size and he needs a run in the team to cement his place and grow in stature.

MB: The second row doesn't quite have the balance it needs, but at the moment a second row of Borthwick and Kennedy would be the best bet.

The line-out is a collective effort, it's more than just your hooker and your second rows. Your support players and lifters and movement has to be right.

At the moment we don't have a world-class second row and a world-class line-out. The preparation needs to be better and they need more time to gel.

AH: Danny Cipriani's kicking has been poor and your kicking has to be of the highest order or you've got no chance against international sides, especially if you're getting charged down twice a game.

I would not pick Cipriani for the Six Nations. Riki Flutey would benefit from playing with someone other than Cipriani, someone like Shane Geraghty who takes the ball to the line and who you can run off in a second wave.

JD: Maybe Cipriani's a bit too brittle to play at international level. I'd go with Toby Flood, who is playing well at Leicester, whereas Cipriani is still finding his feet after coming back from injury and a couple of charge-downs he had in the autumn.

JG: I would replace Cipriani with Flood at fly-half. Cipriani's big weakness is his defence. If you watch him in the tackle area and at rucks and mauls, there is no aggression and he doesn't seem to want to be there.

JD: They tried Riki Flutey as the footballing 12 and Jamie Noon as the straight up-and-downer but I don't think that worked.

Maybe they should go with someone like Shane Geraghty and Mike Tindall so you've got the footballing ability and the experience.

New Zealand have someone like Ma'a Nonu who's going to carry ball and Conrad Smith, who is a very clever footballer. But there's a lack of English 12s in the Premiership, a lot of them are foreign.

AH: With Mike Tindall coming back they have a bit more experience and a bit more nous. They can also use Mike as a battering ram or as a decoy, and that's something that we didn't really have in the autumn.

Austin Healey won 51 caps for England as a utility back between 1997 and 2006; Martin Bayfield won 31 caps for England in the second row between 1991 and 1996; Jeremy Guscott won 65 caps at centre between 1989 and 1999; Jeff Probyn won 37 caps for England as a prop between 1988 and 1993; Jonathan Davies won 37 caps for Wales at fly-half between 1985 and 1997.

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