CHRIS HEWETT

IF we’re being harsh – and heaven knows, the Cherry and White flock who congregate on the steps of the Kingsholm Shed once a fortnight can be as pitiless as anyone – there is only one person to blame. Step forward Steve Borthwick.
How so? It’s pretty straightforward, when you think it through. Had the England head coach picked Gloucester’s star signing, Zach Mercer, in his World Cup squad (which he should have done, as was patently obvious even before Billy Vunipola’s form fell off a cliff), he would not have been available for th...