By Imogen Ainsworth
Steve Borthwick is determined to restore the England roar as he takes on the head coach role.
“I want a team this nation can be proud of,” he said with assertion.
“I’m incredibly excited to be here. I made my debut here in 2001, my first game for England. The stadium has changed a bit since that point in time.
“But from that day the thing that will always stick in my mind is that as you stepped just outside the tunnel, the noise that hits you in this stadium.
“Every time I come here, I think of the first time I heard that roar.”
With only 47 days to go until England kick off their first game under Borthwick’s reign, he wants to hear the Twickenham crowd in full voice of positive support.
“It’s not very long before we play Scotland here and when this team walks out of that tunnel, I want to hear that roar louder than ever.”
Having played 57 times for his country and 265 times in the English Premiership, Borthwick’s heart beats English rugby blood, and the red of the rose courses through his veins.
“I was a little boy who fell in love with rugby watching the England team play. I want to shape a team that this nation gets behind and inspires our supporters, inspires lots of young boys and girls to fall in love with rugby as I did all those years ago,” he said while reminiscing.
“To be appointed to this role fills me with incredible pride and I’m honoured to take on this job.”
“I care deeply about the England rugby team. I was the kid jumping up and down in the living room, I was the boy when the national anthems were being sung the hairs on the back of your neck would stand up. I was the guy….at 14 years old that said I want to play for England,” he added.
The head coach does however recognise that pride alone will not be enough if it’s not backed up with results.
“Now I know that pride will count for nothing if we don’t deliver. I want to shape a team that wins,” he stressed.
Having had heavy involvement in the Premiership as the head coach for Leicester Tigers, Borthwick feels a connection to the emotions the players felt after a disappointing Autumn Nations Series campaign, and a five out of 13-win rate this year.
“The thing that strikes me is how much the players are hurting. We can all see that, clearly there are a large number of England players at Leicester and I have been in touch with players that I have known for a long, long time and I know how much they are hurting because they care, they really, really care, they want to do well.
“So to not achieve what they wanted to achieve, to lose the games the way it was, they hurt. What we need to do, because this Six Nations is going to be on us in no time, 47 days I think, what we need to do is make sure the pain they are feeling we transform that from the start of the Six Nations and put everything we have into the performances on the pitch
He does however put a stress on the fact that the team will be coached in his manner with honesty and compassion in a way that he would be happy for his sons to be coached.
“I’ll coach this team my way. I was asked a question in 2016 would you want your boys coached by you? And that makes you think. Would you want your boys coached by you, I have two little boys, and in 2016, the answer to that question I could unequivocally say no. But it made me think over a period of time how would I want someone to coach my boys.”
“I would want them to care for them and love them but also want them to demand from them and help get the best out of them. To push them, show how good they could be and how far they can go. At the same time to support them and when they have something go wrong, you help them and lift them up…I will lead my way and coach in an authentic way. I want to be authentical with you guys [the media], I will speak honestly and that is the way I will be with my players.”
Leaving a team who have been as successful as Tigers have under Borthwick’s tenure would have never been an easy task, but Borthwick looks forward to the future of coaching the England group.
“It was pretty emotional on Saturday night. I care deeply about my players. For two-and-a-half years we worked incredibly hard together and I loved working with those players. I know I’ll miss them but I’m so excited about the group of players we have here in England,” he said.
Family is everything for the new man in charge and he says that his nine and seven-year-old sons had pressing questions about his premature departure from Leicester Tigers.
“I sat them down, the two boys and told them I was thinking of leaving Leicester Tigers and going to coach England. I said ‘what do you think, how do you feel about it?’ And it was quiet so Hunter said to me ‘okay, but you’ve got to pick lots of Leicester Tigers players’.” he said with a chuckle
“So I asked him who would be number one and he said ‘Can you get Tom Reffell from Wales!’”
“Chase is younger, and he looked a bit sad. He said ‘I like Leicester Tigers’ so I said you can keep supporting Leicester Tigers and he has a Leicester Tiger that goes on the bed next to him.
“It’s named after Harry Potter because Harry is his favourite player. He said can I get an England toy to sit next to Harry Potter so I said yeah and he was a lot happier,” he added.
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