England will travel to Edinburgh today still scratching their heads about their main problem of this year’s RBS Six Nations Championship: how to deliver quick ball to their backs.

The official figures released by the tournament organisers after three rounds show how far England have declined in the past 12 months.

Where, in 2009, they led the way in terms of rucks cleared and turnovers won, now they are at the bottom of the heap. Their offloading game has declined, too, so it may be no wonder that the half-back pairing of Danny Care and Jonny Wilkinson has struggled to take charge of the past two games.

The curiosity is that England looked as though they were in control at the breakdown on the opening weekend against Wales. Care was playing on the front foot and the side scored three tries against what is generally agreed to be a strong defence. Against Italy and Ireland, however, England could not impose themselves.

Lewis Moody, who has been dropped to the bench for tomorrow’s game with Scotland at Murrayfield, is the obvious sacrificial lamb, but statistics such as these are not exclusively the responsibility of the back row.

Consider the way in which Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy, the Ireland centres, judge when to commit themselves at the breakdown and the ball that O’Driscoll, in particular, wins as a consequence.

Go back a year and England played Mike Tindall in the centre, who is a strong man over the ball. Mathew Tait and Riki Flutey are excellent footballers but they are not imposing individuals physically. Scotland have contemplated this area and have restored Nick De Luca, the bigger man, at centre and moved Max Evans to the wing. France, Wales and Italy, meanwhile, have imposing size and strength in midfield.

Nonetheless, it is the back row’s role to win the battle of the breakdown. “Perhaps we don’t have the allrounders we need, or they’re just coming back to fitness,” John Wells, the England forwards coach, admitted after the restoration of Joe Worsley to the No 7 jersey, alongside Nick Easter and James Haskell.

England have not had available to them in this championship Tom Rees or Tom Croft, because of injury, and are undecided over the prospects of Steffon Armitage and Chris Robshaw.

“Ireland were smarter at manipulating the ball-carrier,” Wells added, recognising the qualities of individuals such as David Wallace, who has come through the Munster school of loose-forward play. It is possible, too, that England’s forwards have taken longer to adjust to the various changes in the laws, which have had such a direct impact on the breakdown.

Lawrence Dallaglio, who made up with Richard Hill and Neil Back such a complementary unit for six years, used to refer to “smart” rugby, which has not always been a characteristic of the English game.

The Welsh have generally been more streetwise than England and the present Irish generation, which performed so effectively at Twickenham 13 days ago, has a strong streak of general intelligence. “You have to be clever in this game as well as brave,” Andy Robinson, the Scotland and former England head coach, once said — England should take that to heart.

“The breakdown is a challenging area,” Steve Borthwick, the England captain, said yesterday. “We want tempo in our attacks, but you have to give credit to Ireland’s back row and centres, who are very good in that area. It’s one of those fundamentals we need to get right.

“If there was one specific reason, we could fix it, but it’s many aspects of the game. It’s getting over the gain line, winning the collisions, changes in law, all these things make it a key area.”

That Wales are top of the ruck clearances confirms the belief that, when they find their rhythm, they are as dangerous as any side in the championship, including France. Ireland will be aware of that at Croke Park tomorrow and will want Wallace and company to do the same job they did against England, when they won the turnover count by eight to one.

That statistic alone could make the difference between winning and losing: too many of those turnovers came when England were driving forward, most notably the rolling maul in the final minutes that ended in a scrum for Ireland on their line and a clearance.

England, who have added Shontayne Hape, the Bath centre, and Matt Mullan, the Worcester Warriors prop, to the party that flies north, cannot afford such generosity again.