Another day, another destiny

Team-by-team Six Nations Previews: England

Steve Borthwick may have been groomed as a coach by Eddie Jones, but the former apprentice does not remotely resemble his old master.

England’s new head coach cut the most impressive figure at last week’s Six Nations launch, ebullient, confident and, as someone who used to seem tongue-tied in front of the media, loquacious.

When Borthwick was an assistant coach in the Jones years, he would usually have to front one media conference in the build-up to a match. He looked uncomfortable, as if someone had shoved him through the door and pointed to the top table. He said very little, not wanting to gatecrash someone else’s party.

It was a very different Borthwick at the County Hall in London for last week’s launch, the former lair of Ken Livingstone, someone who has never been short of something to say. A fear when Borthwick took over from Jones was that his lack of media presence could be used against him when the waters became choppy and he hid behind monosyllables as the questions became pointed.

There was an interview when he was the captain of England after a narrow victory in Rome when he described what was a distinctly average performance in glowing terms. He may have worn the armband but he was not in charge of the side and since assuming his first role as head coach, Leicester in 2020, he has fully embraced the position, as if born to do it, and his true personality has emerged.

Borthwick is very much the leader, as he showed last week, and the authority fits snugly. He raised the greatest laugh of the launch, which featured the six head coaches and captains of the Six Nations sides who rotated between the various sections of the media, when he recounted a tale from his schooldays.

“We had a careers day and the teacher said write what you want to be,” Borthwick recounted. “I put down professional rugby player and that I wanted to play for England. I gave it to the adviser and was expecting an incredibly disapproving glance and a retort that I was not going to be a professional rugby player.

“To the adviser’s credit, they looked at it and asked if I wanted to be a professional rugby player. I replied yes and that I wanted to play for England. They said: ‘You better learn how to spell professional, then’.”

As a player and an assistant coach, Borthwick revealed very little about himself, as if he felt it was not about him. He was more guarded than the Crown Jewels but sitting in a crowded room he was in his element having accepted a job he not only coveted but felt ready for.

He was asked whether he would, like Jones, indulge in mind games with opponents, a distracting tactic that occasionally appeared to work and which generated headlines. The question was more of a statement because it invited the response that followed.

Nick Evans gives instructions to Owen Farell and Marcus Smmith

Borthwick would be no more likely to bait Warren Gatland or Andy Farrell than he would be to call for scrums and line-outs to be outlawed, but the way he gave his response was revealing and worth quoting in full.

“My strategy is to be very up front and to be authentic to me,” he said. “I care very deeply about my players and want them to go on the field and be the best of themselves. I was privileged to play 57 times for England and had the great honour of captaining my country on 21 occasions.

“I look back on that time and regret a number of things that I did not do. Did I give the very best account of myself ? Inever questioned the effort but did I bring all my strengths on to the field? Would I like to rewind and do it all again? I would but I can’t. As Owen (Farrell, Borthwick’s captain) reminds me, I am old.

“I want to help the players so that when they are old and, like me, have no hair, they do not have regrets when they look back on their career and do not make the mistakes I did. Just do it in an England shirt, bring their great strengths because they are incredibly talented players. Win or lose, we are better next week and the ones after that.

“I will not try and play mind games. I will leave that to other coaches. I want the players to have an incredible experience and be proud about what they have done. We have plenty of work to do and my focus is on my team. We are a bit behind, as you saw in the autumn. We want to improve from where it was and the way I coach is that every game matters. The Six Nations is an incredible tournament and I am very privileged to be here.”

“I want the players to have an incredible experience and be proud about doing it”

Jones failed to last the course after the Rugby Football Union, which was initially supportive, tired of the Six Nations and the autumn internationals being used as a stepping stone to a tournament held once every four years, even if the overriding impression at last week’s launch – Borthwick was the exception – was that while the Six Nations lay ahead, the World Cup was the ghost in the room.

What strikes you about Borthwick is his certainty and his belief. He is renowned for his attention to detail, his recall and ability to command loyalty. He spent seven years supporting Jones, first with Japan and then England, and it was probably no coincidence that Jones’s problems started shortly after Borthwick left for Leicester.

As England’s stock fell, Leicester’s rose. Borthwick had joined a club that had lost its way after being the most successful in England in the professional era, flirting with relegation and firing coaches with increasing regularity. He had only been there a few weeks when the club’s long serving England hooker and captain Tom Youngs made an observation.

Leicester, he said, were going places because of what Borthwick had brought. “We have a real sense of the direction we are going in,” he went on. “The way we are working, the way we have been fighting in games to the very end. Fitness levels have improved and training is very competitive. Steve makes it very, very challenging and that’s fantastic because you are only going to get better when it’s not comfortable.”

Two years later Leicester were champions having led the Premiership table all season. Borthwick forged a strong team spirit, promoting emerging players in his first year and making some astute signings. Leicester’s style looked basic with an emphasis on set-pieces, mauling, kicking, defence and fitness, but it gradually became more nuanced.

Stev Borthwick

PICTURES: Getty Images

“I will not try and play mind games. I will leave that to other coaches”

Instant impact: Kevin Sinfield has joined the England setup from Leicester

Their play reflected the coaching team rather than just Borthwick himself and it will be the same with England. While he will be in charge and be seen to be in charge, he will trust others in a way Jones did not seem to, other than with Borthwick.

Jones subscribed to creative tension, challenging his coaches and players and changing them often. Borthwick is more like Gatland, preferring continuity than new voices. He brought Kevin Sinfield with him from Leicester, a rugby league great who made an instant impact with the Tigers, someone who inspired players. Borthwick retained forwards coach Richard Cockerill, who made his name as a player and a coach with Leicester, but he has not turned England into Tigers Old Boys. An interesting appointment was Nick Evans as attack coach, someone who could be seen at the opposite end of the tactical spectrum to Borthwick.

The former New Zealand outside-half was at the heart of Harlequins’ Premiership triumph two years ago when they played with swagger and style to come from nowhere in the second half of the season. If it is hard to see England playing with such abandon in the coming weeks, Evans has not been brought in for appearance’s sake.

Attack has been a recurring problem for England since the last World Cup. The Six Nations and Autumn Nations Cup triumphs in 2020 saw England at their most effective when not in possession and while there have been moments when they have fired with the ball in hand, they have been fleeting, not helped by slow ball from the breakdown.

Jones summoned Marcus Smith two years ago. The Harlequin saw off George Ford, the architect of Leicester’s title success last season, and had Owen Farrell outside him at 12. Borthwick’s appointment suggested a return to outside-half for Farrell, for at least as long as Ford was unavailable through injury, but Borthwick did sign Freddie Burns while he was at Welford Road, an outside-half not known for a safety first approach. And Gatland, not an alumnus of the romantic school of outside-halves, rates Smith highly.

It may be that Smith is part of Plan B on the bench at the start, but Evans’s presence suggests that Borthwick’s mind is not closed. The head coach has a number of issues to fix: the scrum, the lineout and the tackle area for three and his first squad indicates he will place a premium on specialists rather than versatile players: opensides and wings abound.

England’s first two matches are at home, to Scotland and Italy. They are games in the past which have been regarded as a home banker, but the Scots are unbeaten on their last two visits to Twickenham and Italy have gained respect after winning in Cardiff and defeating Australia last year, although the injury curse that plagued Jones continues with Tom Curry, Courtney Lawes, Elliot Daly, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ford unavailable for at least the opening two rounds.

Awarding the captaincy to Farrell, the ultimate competitor, was a statement of intent. Borthwick’s England will not take a step backwards and will be in the face of opponents. They will be organised, focused and fit. But he will also be aware that if England are to close the gap on Ireland and France, they will need to do more than hound and harry.

Their attacking game will need to be refined, even if the constraints of time will limit what Evans can do. Smith more than proved his fitness for Harlequins in the final two rounds of the Heineken Champions Cup group stage after missing six weeks with an ankle injury.

He showed skill and improvisation. His partnership with Farrell under Jones was seen as a failure because the pair did not appear to complement each other, but the problem was in front of them, a pack that struggled to deliver. Borthwick should fix that, but does he play safe with Farrell at 10 and Manu Tuilagi (or Dan Kelly) at 12, or does he continue with Smith and go with Cadan Murley and Ollie Haskell-Collins on the wings?

Bristol’s director of rugby Pat Lam made the point this month that it would be wrong to judge Borthwick entirely on how Leicester played under him. His point was that an international coach has the choice of every eligible player and is not constrained by a salary cap.

There will be an element of going back to basics. There has to be after two Six Nations campaigns without Borthwick that yielded four victories out of 10, two against Italy, and an autumn campaign that did not muster a victory against three Rugby Championship opponents.

He knows there has to be more if England are to do more than compete. Ireland’s game changed profoundly when Andy Farrell took over from Joe Schmidt and placed an emphasis on quick ball which allowed Johnny Sexton to expand his portfolio beyond a few set plays.

It may be, bearing in mind the slow, unspectacular starts made by his immediate predecessors Jones and Stuart Lancaster, that Borthwick is conservative initially and then looks to expand, giving himself alternative options on the bench, but starting with two home matches against teams who finished in the bottom half of the table last season is an opportunity.

Whatever Borthwick settles on will be methodically thought through. He will involve his coaches, someone who likes to be questioned rather than think he has all the answers. He is geared to success, something he achieves by taking everyone with him rather than by dragging them along.

His fellow players used to speak highly of Borthwick and so did his charges at Leicester, unprompted. It used to be difficult to square the image Borthwick portrayed to the media with what those who worked with him said about him, but not any more. One dimensional he is not. In his own word, he is authentic. His England will be what you see, no smoke and mirrors.

2023 FIXTURES

ROUND 1

February 4

Wales v Ireland 14:15

England v Scotland 16:45

February 5

Italy v France 15:00

ROUND 2

February 11

Ireland v France 14:15

Scotland v Wales 16:45

February 12

England v Italy 15:00

ROUND 3 February 25

Italy v Ireland 14:15

Wales v England 16:45

February 26

France v Scotland 15:00

ROUND 4 March 11

Italy v Wales 14:15

England v France 16:45

March 12

Scotland v Ireland 15:00

ROUND 5 March

18 Scotland v Italy 12:30

France v Wales 14:45

Ireland v England 17:00