Steve Thompson struggled at Twickenham.

By Neal Collins

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Keith Wood, a man who knows a bit about these things, reckons Steve Thompson was struggling ten minutes before half-time as England slumped to their shock 19-13 defeat against Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday.

Retired Ireland hooker Wood said of Thommo's bleakest day, which saw 11 line-outs lost before his 65th minute replacement by Mark Regan: "I've been there, I know what it's like. You're trying to thread the ball through two big opposition locks and it's not getting there.

"The Irish seemed to know where it was going, they were up with England all the time.

"You could see it in Thompson's demeanour. His shoulders slumped. He was finished ten minutes before half-time.

"He's improved an awful lot and I think England have to stick with him."

Thompson, who was switched from back row to hooker by former Northampton and Scotland coach Ian McGeechan just five short years ago - he only started playing rugby at 18 - will take it hard.

Former England centre Jeremy Guscott reckons: "England don't have to make wholescale changes but I think Thompson has to go. Sir Clive Woodward says he picks on form but Thompson hasn't been showing much form lately."

So should Thompson be the scapegoat for England's worst performance since their Six Nations defeat against France in Paris two years ago - and their first home defeat since 1999?

No, of course not.

Thompson is an easy target.

But the line-out was not England's only problem on Saturday.

New Zealand referee Paul Honiss never let England's game flow - and Sir Clive appeared for the first time to lack ideas under pressure.

During the World Cup, when England were struggling early on against Samoa in Melbourne and Wales in Brisbane, he changed things around and produced the necessary second half recovery.

There was no sign of that yesterday. Apart from a tidy Matt Dawson try England lacked ideas. Iain Balshaw and Paul Grayson simply kicked away possession, Ronan O'Gara responding with longer, more damaging tactical kicking in return.

Richard Hill played well in the loose and captain Lawrence Dallaglio broke well from the back of the scrum, creating the Dawson try by scragging Peter Stringer. But Neil Back was left languishing on the bench while Joe Worsley was largely anonymous.

Steve Borthwick's line-out leaping was as bad as Thompson's throwing - and the more experienced Ben Kay seemed incapable of denying the Irish locks either.

Of course with Martin Johnson retired and Danny Grewcock and Simon Shaw injured it was always going to be tough amongst the second-row giants.

At the back, Balshaw was targetted by O'Gara's Monstrous Munster Garryowen up-and-unders ... and he looked nervy throughout.

Jason Robinson saw very little of the ball at centre while Josh Lewsey and Ben Cohen did little of consequence out on the wings.

Of course, without Johnson and the injured Jonny Wilkinson, England were always going to be slightly below par and Ireland played like men possessed.

Sometimes I wonder if England are TOO well prepared. If they tend to treat every game like a job, while Ireland turned up at Twickenham on a specific "destroy the world champions" mission.

And of course, bubbling below the surface, there are rumblings. Jason Leonard and Back have been dumped, Johnson and Kyran Bracken have retired, appearance money has resulted in unrest, there are long faces at Pennyhill Park.

So let's not blame poor old Thommo for England's woeful performance. Sir Clive took defeat on the chin and said: "At least this will draw a line under the World Cup hype."

True. But has the RFU given the players what they deserve for their efforts in Australia? And has the whole thing disrupted Sir Clive's relationship with the players?

Time will tell. England could still win the championship, if not the Grand Slam. But I've got a feeling there's going to be a lot of chopping and changing before England's June tour Down Under.