Steve Borthwick has revealed his secret regret - and vowed to ensure England's rugby team learns from mistakes he says he made.
The coach brought in to replace Eddie Jones chose the official Six Nations launch in London to admit for the first time dissatisfaction over his playing career. Not for reasons of self-pity but to explain the very personal motivation fuelling his drive to make England great again.
“I want to help these young guys not make the mistakes I made,” he said. “When they’re old and have no hair like me, I want them to not have regrets.
"I don’t want them looking back thinking ‘I wish I’d done that or I could have done that’. I want them to have a real go.”
Borthwick has a rugby CV many would give their right arm for. He wore the Red Rose over nine years and captained England more times than all but six men in history. He spoke of the “privilege” and “great honour” he felt from winning 57 caps, 21 as skipper, only to then open up on the frustrations that followed him into retirement.
Will England beat Scotland in their Six Nations opener next month? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section
"Maybe I tried too hard,” he said. “I look back at a lot of that time and I regret a lot of the things I didn’t do. Did I ever give the very, very best account of myself? I always put the effort in, but did I ever feel I put all my strengths on the pitch?
“Would I like to rewind the clock and go back and try and do it again? Yeah, I would. I wish I could go back to that point where I captained England and go back to that day when I made my debut. I wish I could go through those experiences again and try to be even better.”
Borthwick has not spoken this way before. His willingness to do so on the biggest stage shows how passionately he cares for the mission he has signed up for.
“I want these players to bring the very best of themselves on to the pitch,” added the Cumbrian, who is likely to be without Courtney Lawes for the first part of the campaign. “Do I think that I did that? I tried, but I’m not sure I ever did.
“I’m wise enough to say that maybe those experiences have made me look back through a different lens, given me a different perspective. The one thing that’s clear is that I don’t want these players looking back on their careers with regret about things that they didn’t do.
“Let’s try, let’s really try, to bring every bit of our strengths on to the pitch. Whether we win or we lose, I want us to be able to look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m proud of that'."
