Schalk Brits wheeled back into the chalet after a few bonding beers to find room-mate Steve Borthwick hunched over his laptop analysing lineouts.
South Africa hooker Brits had enjoyed a rowdy night out with Saracens in Verbier on a team-bonding trip.
Brits and the bulk of the Sarries squad had tucked into the Swiss ski resort’s hostelries, as was the point of the weekend. Borthwick had sloped off the slopes early, though, to dig into the detail of his lineout technical prep.
The Saracens captain had absented himself from the apres-ski, to no one’s great surprise among the Men in Black.
If Borthwick’s dedication and forensic detail focus drew praise in his playing days, the 43-year-old has taken those obsessions to new heights in his coaching career.
“We were rooming together and I came back late in the night after a few beers, and he had his laptop on watching lineouts,” said Brits.
“I said, ‘Hey man, give me a hug, I love you — put the laptop down’. He said, ‘No way, I need to do this before I can have another beer tomorrow night’. I’ve never known a guy as diligent as Steve, it’s phenomenal.”
Brits was the livewire, off-the-cuff attacking spirit who belied not only the traditional roles of his position of hooker but also the more rigid elements of Saracens’ attacking blueprint. Borthwick was the polar opposite, or “the yin to my yang” in Brits’s words.
The ultra-likeable Brits revealed he had spent four months positively begging Borthwick not to retire in the run to the end of the 2014 campaign.
Borthwick racked up almost 250 appearances for Bath before coming close to 150 more with Saracens in a 16-year playing career that also saw him earn 57 England caps.
The Cumbria native’s ability to coax detail into decisive attacking opportunities has underscored a quickly successful coaching turn. Borthwick worked under Jones with, first, Japan, then England, forging the national side’s forward play en route to the 2019 World Cup Final.
Leicester required a major overhaul when Borthwick arrived in 2020, not least in response to the financial pressures of the Covid pandemic.
Borthwick proved the ideal man to balance both books and attacking blueprints, culminating in Leicester edging out Saracens 15-12 to claim the 2022 Gallagher Premiership title.
Saracens boss Mark McCall has only good things to say about his former captain.
His close attention to detail is important, he’s extremely intelligent about the game.
“Steve was a superb person to work with, a guy who understood the game very well, always a brilliant communicator,” said McCall.
“So it’s no surprise he’s gone on to have the success that he’s having coaching-wise. His close attention to detail is important, he’s extremely intelligent about the game.”
England ideally wanted Borthwick to replace Eddie Jones after the 2023 World Cup, on the expiration of the now-unseated former boss’s contract.
The timescale has changed, but the regard in which he is held has not. Borthwick ticks all of England’s boxes: success, a Test-level track record and experience across multiple environments. All that detail can turn a tad dry, and Borthwick’s serious and steely glare certainly needs an impassioned, emotional contrast.
Rugby League great Kevin Sinfield can offer that better than anyone else. Leicester’s players have relished working with Sinfield, as much for his expertise and acumen as his demeanour and inclusive approach.
Sinfield’s fiercely loyal friendship with Rob Burrow has extended to tireless fundraising to help battle Motor Neurone Disease. If Sinfield is with you, he will do anything for you. His seven ultra-marathons in seven days was beyond gruelling.
Sinfield is very much Borthwick’s man at Leicester, and it is blindingly clear why England want to reunite them.
