Steve Borthwick insists talk about his own position is no distraction as the head coach bids to end England ’s losing run against the Springboks at Twickenham on Saturday.
Borthwick’s men head into this week’s match on a run of four straight defeats, and five losses in their last six games.
But several of those reverses have been by agonisingly small margins, with their opening two November internationals at Twickenham seeing England go down 24-22 to New Zealand and 42-37 to Australia last time out. Both matches were decided in the closing moments of the game.
Borthwick now has an overall modest win rate of 50%, courtesy of 13 victories in 26 games since he succeeded Eddie Jones as England coach in 2022.
Although the RFU are continuing to give the former England captain their full support, Bok supremo Rassie Erasmus said the pressure Borthwick now faced was akin to having a “gun against your head”.
But Borthwick, speaking after naming his side on Thursday, said: “When you are coaching England, there are always things on the outside. There always is.”
He was adamant that but for a “couple of little things”, everyone would be “talking this team up as having a very, very good Autumn”.
“But we haven’t,” Borthwick said. “The ball’s not gone our way, the language outside is a different language. So the reality always is get better today, and that’s always my intention as a coach, and my intention with the team.”
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Borthwick, a former lock, added: “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.”
England pushed the Springboks desperately close in their previous encounter –– a 16-15 World Cup semi-final loss for Borthwick’s men in France last year.
“We are frustrated we haven’t got wins, we intend to get wins, and it’s a brilliant challenge for us this weekend,” said Borthwick.
The England coach has made four changes to his starting 15, recalling fullback Freddie Steward and scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet, with wing Ollie Sleightholme and flanker Sam Underhill included after both Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tom Curry were ruled out with head injuries suffered against Australia.
That is nothing, however, compared to South Africa, with the back-to-back world champions making 12 changes to the starting side that defeated Scotland 32-15 at Murrayfield last weekend – a win that took the Springboks back to the top of the world rankings.
“They’ve built a squad that has got enormous depth and breadth to it, incredible quality,” said Borthwick.
“Twelve changes, nearly 1,200 caps this weekend, I think someone just told me, which is a pretty phenomenal position to be in.
“What he [Erasmus] has done since 2018, through the 2019 World Cup, through the 2023 World Cup, and now onwards, he’s continued to build a really good programme.”
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
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