Mike Tindall: Steve Borthwick is still the man to lead England forward

Mike Tindall is convinced Steve Borthwick will come up with a remedy to heal England‘s losing headache and turn them into serial winners once more.

World Cup winner Tindall urges fans to keep the faith with the “quietly spoken and determined” head coach who is facing the biggest challenge of his time in charge.

A miserable fifth place in the Six Nations with a record four successive losses raised the pressure on Borthwick to keep his job despite a stirring performance in the agonising defeat to France.

England travel to face world champions South Africa in July – the start of the inaugural and crucial summer’s Nations Championship campaign – and Tindall is certain Borthwick remains the man to lead the side.

Working hard

“I’ve known him since he was 16 and he will be working hard to put all the problems right,” Tindall told The Rugby Paper.

“I have also spoken with enough players who like the environment they are in. I think he will stay until the World Cup and, hopefully, will get us back to the team which won 12 on the bounce.

“No-one was moaning about his character when England won 12 on the bounce, whether he was relatable to the fans.

“But then we lose four in a row and suddenly Steve’s the problem. Every team will endure rough spells, and the moment England started losing a few, some people could not wait to jump on the man in charge.

“He’s not a Jose Mourinho or Eddie Jones! Not that type of outspoken character.

“He goes about things in his own quiet and determined manner. That’s his nature and he’s someone who thinks deeply and seriously about the game and how to improve the team, whether they win or lose.”

Confident: Mike Tindall still believes Steve Borthwick is the right man for the England job
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Fired up

England will need to be fully fired up against the Springboks before they face Fiji and Argentina.

“That’s when they will really find out where they stand,” Tindall says. “There’s no doubt the Springboks are the No.1 team and they want to stay there long term.

“They went through a tough time in 2017-18 when the nucleus of this team was put together.

“But what they have done over the last eight years has been incredible. It will be interesting with this Nations Cup coming in, and how it works up to the finals in November.”

Optimism

But Tindall has cause for optimism and says Borthwick, above, can find the answers.

He added: “England are not far off being the side they were when they won 12 on the bounce, and are still a young team developing and learning from good and bad experiences.

“Those poor performances in the Six Nations were caused by individual player-based mistakes.

“We got in the right places in the field enough times to win games. But individual errors made – missed tackles, unforced errors – cost them.

“There are definitely things to work on. The defensive shape and structure slipped a little, but they are not a million miles away.

“Just look at the French game where they created loads of stuff but gave away tries and still should have won in the end.

“They needed to manage the game better in the final 30 seconds.”