Steve Borthwick believes the England jersey has been weighing heavy on his players as they seek to salvage their Six Nations campaign against Ireland on Saturday and suggested inconsistent team selections during Eddie Jones’s reign were a contributing factor.
As England prepare to face what Borthwick believes is “the best team in the world”, the head coach has made three changes to the side that lost 30-21 to Scotland last time out, with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso handed a first start and Alex Mitchell and George Martin coming into the team.
Borthwick might have gone further but Marcus Smith has been deemed ready only for a place on the bench after returning from a calf injury, while George Furbank stays at full-back with Freddie Steward again omitted. Instead, the head coach highlighted the importance of the “continuity of selections” when attempting to ease the burden on his players.
It is a telling remark, coming not long after the former England wing Jonny May revealed the anxiety that goes on behind the scenes with players fretting over their places on a weekly basis, though Borthwick has just once in his tenure named an unchanged starting XV, and in the backs only George Ford and Henry Slade have been constant fixtures in this Six Nations.
“We know that against Scotland there were errors,” Borthwick said. It’s probably the first time in a while that I’d seen the weight of the shirt feel heavy on the players. As a player and in teams I’ve been part of, I saw a lot of players feel the weight of that shirt and feel the scrutiny the team was under.
“The environment we want to create is supportive of the players and we understand that mistakes are going to happen. What I’m after is a response to that. What do we learn from it? How quickly do we move forward from it? If you look at the game this weekend, what a game for the shirt to lift you up. What a game for Twickenham to add fuel to the team. What a game to add every ounce of energy and fight that’s within the players together, when you are going to be tested against the best team in the world.”
Asked how he can lift the weight on his players, Borthwick added: “I think we try to make an environment where the players enjoy it, where we know mistakes are going to be made, but it’s about continuing to do the right things. I back the players. Yes we made errors [against Scotland], we’re disappointed in the performance and we’re disappointed in the result. But I also think this is a group of players that have made enormous progress over the last year, and now we’ve started the next step of the journey in this Six Nations.
“The continuity of the selections, it’s an important factor. When I track this back … the continuity of selection over the last few years has potentially not always been as evident and it’s not always helped the team to have lots of changes regularly.
“I’ve looked closely at what’s happened with the England team in previous cycles. I’ve looked closely and compared. Things like continuity and cohesion of selection. We can all see at times that’s not really been the case. You see England has done well, generally, when they’ve had a club side that’s been dominant and has had a large number of players coming from one team.”
England
15 George Furbank (Northampton)
14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter)
13 Henry Slade (Exeter)
12 Ollie Lawrence (Bath)
11 Tommy Freeman (Northampton)
10 George Ford (Sale)
9 Alex Mitchell (Northampton)
1 Ellis Genge (Bristol)
2 Jamie George (Saracens)
3 Dan Cole (Leicester)
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens)
5 George Martin (Leicester)
6 Ollie Chessum (Leicester)
7 Sam Underhill (Bath)
8 Ben Earl (Saracens)
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan (Saracens) 17 Joe Marler (Harlequins) 18 Will Stuart (Bath) 19 Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins) 20 Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins) 21 Danny Care (Harlequins) 22 Marcus Smith (Harlequins) 23 Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Ireland
15 Hugo Keenan (Leinster)
14 Calvin Nash (Munster)
13 Robbie Henshaw (Leinster)
12 Bundee Aki (Connacht)
11 James Lowe (Leinster)
10 Jack Crowley (Munster)
9 Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster)
1 Andrew Porter (Leinster)
2 Dan Sheehan (Leinster)
3 Tadhg Furlong (Leinster)
4 Joe McCarthy (Leinster)
5 Tadhg Beirne (Munster)
6 Peter O’Mahony (Munster)
7 Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
8 Caelan Doris (Leinster)
Replacements
16 Ronan Kelleher (Leinster) 17 Cian Healy (Leinster) 18 Finlay Bealham (Connacht) 19 Iain Henderson (Ulster) 20 Ryan Baird (Leinster) 21 Jack Conan (Leinster) 22 Conor Murray (Munster) 23 Ciaran Frawley (Leinster)
Ireland, meanwhile, welcome back Hugo Keenan against England but will be without lock James Ryan for the remainder of the Six Nations. Keenan has recovered from a knee problem which ruled him out of the 31-7 victory over Wales and replaces Ciaran Frawley in the only change to Andy Farrell’s starting XV.
Ryan, who has been reduced to a peripheral role during the championship, suffered a “freak” bicep injury in training on Wednesday and the second row will sit out the trip to Twickenham, in addition to next week’s finale against Scotland. Garry Ringrose is fit after a shoulder injury but must wait for his first international appearance since the World Cup due to the impressive form of midfield pair Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki.
Ireland, who are chasing successive grand slams on the back of bonus-point wins over France, Italy and Wales, could retain their title with a game to spare with victory in south-west London but Farrell warned against any complacency. “I don’t get involved with the criticism at all,” he said of England’s performances so far in the championship. “I look at the individuals, the way that they’re playing, the coaching staff that they got, the plan that they’ve got, a fantastic side that is going to be preparing to give it everything they’ve got at the weekend.
“That makes them unbelievably dangerous, we just prepare for them to be at their best and if that’s the case it’s going to be one hell of a battle. If they’re at their best, you expect them to be as hard as anyone in world rugby to beat.”
