I'm conflicted.
I want the team do well for the players, they didn't pick the team or decide game plan, they have put a lot of work in to get to this point, but also, if not more importantly, for all those who've worked to get them there. Their parents, wives and families, coaches who've worked with them through their career especially when they were children, the clubs and schools they played at when young and supported them and the myriad of people who have been involved supporting them in other ways.
On the other hand, if they do get to the semi-final or even further the RFU will be able to point to it and claim their approach is working. Not only would that be an insult to anyone who can see but also a calamity for the future of the game. We really can't go on playing this a type rugby at international level as its so obvious that we are being left behind and as others have pointed out, if that's how England play then players who want to play for England will have to learn to play that way at club level. It will be made even worse if they bring in central contracts.
On a more specific point, I've said it before but that doesn't look like a happy squad. Nobody smiling, Ford's face when he came off was a look of thunder, all those trite comments we get in the press: "Rugby World Cup 2023: Steve Borthwick says England must take 'learnings' into quarter-finals" really? Is that all you get from highly paid PR gurus?, players looking like they've never met.
I'm not as down on Borthwick as some because he got thrown in at short notice, but if we don't see root and branch reform in the 6N then maybe its time for him to go as well as the top echelons of the RFU.