Steve Borthwick has been liberal with the superlatives when describing the performances of some of the players in his England World Cup training squad.
He has called England’s preparations “a level up” on his previous four World Cup involvements, and has heaped praise on the likes of Owen Farrell, Danny Care, Tom Pearson, Ellis Genge and Courtney Lawes.
This suggests an extraordinary transformation since the end of the Six Nations, because the head coach’s comment after the tournament was that his players were not fit enough, and after their opening loss to Scotland he observed that England...