England head coach Steve Borthwick hopes it will be fifth time lucky at 2027 Rugby World Cup

Steve Borthwick has been around the World Cup block a few times and knows his England side have to keep on winning tight games if he is to make it fifth time lucky – despite their dream draw.

A squad member in 2007 when England made the final, losing 15-6 to South Africa in Paris, having been written off after a 36-0 pool defeat to the Boks, Borthwick has coached at three more.

In 2015, he was part of Eddie Jones‘ staff with Japan, and in 2019, also with Jones, helped England to the final before being in charge for the semi-final near-miss against South Africa in 2023.

Borthwick’s side were handed a perfect pool for Australia 2027 on Wednesday, being grouped with Wales, Tonga and Zimbabwe, but sooner or later they are going to have to win a cliffhanger to emulate the 2003 winners.

Ups and downs

Borthwick said: “I was at the 2007 World Cup, which had its ups and downs, and Brian Ashton led England to a World Cup final.

“In 2015, I was with Japan where we lost one game in the group and almost qualified for the quarters, and then in 2019 we went to the final.

“In 2023, we lost narrowly in the semi-final and won the bronze medal.

“Each of those experiences shows that the margins of games are incredibly small. Each moment is a potentially huge moment and a defining aspect of the game, but at that point in time, you don’t know that it’s the key moment.

“That demands a certain concentration and resilience from the players.

“It comes down to getting the detail right and that’s where the coaches need to prepare the players. We expect it to come down to a few moments.”

Countdown 

Borthwick, above, also started the countdown clock to the World Cup with preparations starting in February ahead of the Six Nations then again in the summer with the new Nations Championship.

He added: “We have got 20 Test matches between now and the start of the World Cup.

“What we want to do is maximise each and win each and every one of those Tests matches and learn and develop in each and every one of those Test matches.

“Each aspect of training will have scenario elements in it, and off the pitch, it will have scenario elements in it, which puts the players into the situations where they have got to make decisions under certain aspects of duress, physical duress and different types of pressure.

“I expect the intensity of our training to go up even further from where it is now, and we will continue to develop the scenario aspect of our training, to replicate those game situations that finals of World Cups demand.”