England did nothing, and even that they did badly. This was a mind-numbing effort of jaw-dropping proportions. When the Edinburgh heavens opened England opted for the kicking strategy, aiming to secure territory and pressurise Scotland into the concession of penalties or who knows, maybe even a drop goal. They kicked, kicked and kicked again; usually straight down the throats of the Scottish back three who, being under none of the pressure England intended to inflict on their hosts, returned these vacuous kicks with interest. In the first 20 minutes alone the kick ratio raced along at more than one a minute.

It suited Scotland, taking the pace and power England should have been able to impose out of the match. If Frank Hadden could have dictated an English game plan it would have been identical to the one England served up. The physical bravery of the English bulldog, which prevailed in Paris, was replaced by the craven inability to risk any gamble with the ball in hand. Even something as basic as a miss-pass to the outside-centre or full-back in their own 22, on the off-chance there might be some space in which to open up. Worst still is the continued refusal to counter-attack from turnover ball. Wales, France and Ireland all understand the potential of this broken-field situation, but England? No, they pass it 20 metres back to Jonny Wilkinson, rooted in his own 22, who boots possession into touch five metres upfield from where England initially stole the ball.

The fly-half played in blinkers, as he often has in the past year. Brian Ashton will lose all his remaining credibility if he does not follow up his late substitution of the English icon with a fresh face at 10. Whether that man is Charlie Hodgson or Danny Cipriani really does not matter because what England need more than anything is a team without Wilkinson.

Wilkinson’s great strength as a goalkicker is poisoning the rest of the England game. So cossetted is the rest of the team by the seeming infallibility of his Test-match kicking that he has forgotten how to play. Caution and territory is not so much the byword as the only word. It is a regime that grows more Calvinist in its obsession with the work ethic above everything else.

What England missed in Edinburgh was the swagger of Cipriani. Now is almost too late to blood him. The nightclub episode is systematic of England’s joyless world. Watching them move in the most wooden of ways throughout the match, and watching Wilkinson blindly boot possession away, left one grieving for wasted talent. Before England wallowed in their second-gear static hell, Shane Williams was slashing his way over the Irish try-line and putting Wales on course for the Grand Slam. James Simpson-Daniel would be similarly treasured in Wales but England prefer to torment the men with the talent who could play them out of the manure that is of their own making.

England laughed at the naïve nature of the French team that played England and Wilkinson without a proven kicker. Yet that victory, founded on the traditional English virtues of set-piece and goalkicking, looks like history after the blunt stupidity of Edinburgh. France are testing themselves to extremes and have done some daft things in the process, but England are in danger of becoming the fool of the future with their do-nothing policy.

Lesley Vianikolo’s selection is an exception but Ashton’s England either failed to use him or (as happened after 50 minutes) did nothing but use him off the blind-side wing. It was as if England realised the inept execution of their kicking game had to find a more positive balance to force themselves back into the match.

It may offend Englishmen of a short-term disposition but the biggest bonus from yesterday is that they lost. The long term has to be addressed in a manner that until now Ashton has refused. Defeat against Scotland leaves his position at risk but it also forces him to select a side true to his nature. A side that thinks on its feet rather than leaves its brains on the training field; a side that has the courage to play instead of what appears to be a bad case of rugby claustropho-bia; a side that will give Ireland a game and the nation a lift before the tour to New Zealand.

England do not have to be quite as extrovert as France but it is time to follow their lead. This is my idea of a team for next Saturday and the summer to follow.

D Cipriani; P Sackey, F Waters, O Barkley, J Simpson-Daniel; C Hodgson, D Care; A Sheridan, L Mears, M Stevens, S Borthwick (capt), T Croft, J Haskell, N Easter, M Lund. Stuart Barnes won 10 caps for England between 1984 and 1993