Steve Borthwick has insisted he is well equipped to block out the pressure of England’s current plight after Rassie Erasmus suggested he is under the pump and may feel like he “has a gun against his head”.
A number of ex-England stalwarts, including Clive Woodward and Will Carling, have taken aim at Borthwick after Saturday’s last-gasp defeat by Australia extended his side’s losing run to four. He retains the Rugby Football Union’s “100% support” but England could slip to eighth in the world rankings should they fail to arrest their losing streak against Erasmus’s Springboks on Saturday in the first meeting between the sides since last year’s ill-tempered World Cup semi-final.
Borthwick has made four changes to his side to face South Africa, recalling Freddie Steward at full-back – due to his aerial “super strength” – and the scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet, after conceding that World Rugby’s directive to clamp down on “escorting” is leading to more kicking and more scrums, before saying “you don’t want to turn rugby union into Aussie rules”.
After naming a side that features 12 changes from that which put Scotland to the sword last week, Erasmus suggested head coaches in Borthwick’s position can feel the heat. “When you lose two games, even if it’s by a point or last-minute try, the pressure does start to build. I’ve been there and certainly know how quickly that can get to you. Now Steve is a bit under pressure,” Erasmus said. “It depends on your CEO – they can make you feel like you have got a gun against your head.”
Asked whether he feels under pressure, Borthwick was adamant that he can handle the flak coming England’s way.
“I am coaching a team in the very best manner we possibly can,” said Borthwick. “When you are coaching England, there are always things on the outside. It is one of my strengths that I just focus and compartmentalise pretty well. My job is to coach this team, I love coaching this team, I am loyal to this group of players, and we’ve got to do things better than what we have.
“We are frustrated we haven’t got wins, we intend to get wins, and it’s a brilliant challenge for us this weekend.”
Steward’s recall at full-back means George Furbank drops out of the matchday 23 and comes with Borthwick declaring “a fundamental change” to the sport as a result of World Rugby’s clampdown on defensive runners who block the path of attacking chasers.
“[Freddie’s] training has been exceptional,” added Borthwick. “His attitude has been brilliant and the team that kicks more contestable kicks than anybody in the world is South Africa. Everything shows they’re head and shoulders above everybody in terms of the number of times they kick contestable. That means that anyone who has strengths in that area is going to be very important in this game.”
Van Poortvliet comes in for Ben Spencer, who also drops out of the 23, while Sam Underhill and Ollie Sleightholme are selected at openside flanker and left wing respectively in place of the injured Tom Curry and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
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Curry’s head injury denies him the chance to face South Africa again after the fallout of last year’s semi-final was dominated by his accusation that Bongi Mbonambi uttered a racial slur at him. Borthwick is expecting a similarly fierce encounter. He said: “I see the game only going that way now - more kicks, more contestable kicks with his law implication. And I think fundamentally playing against South Africa, you have to scrum well, you have to deal with that maul really well and you have to defend in a physical manner.
“That’s at the very core of the South African game. So we have to deal with those things and I think the team’s prepared really well in that sense for the weekend. And I think this group of players is really determined to go out and take our game on against South Africa. In that semi-final there were chances that we did not take in a very tight game.”
