Time for Steve Borthwick to prove his worth
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Honeymoon periods are not set in stone and in my estimation Steve Borthwick’s ends this summer.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s still in good shape. There is an acknowledgement that England have made decent strides forward and RFU CEO Bill Sweeney and indeed the players seem fully behind Borthwick.
The England coach doesn’t go round needling people – players or media – and there is very little to get hot under the collar about. He has lowered the temperature of the entire England scene.
But the sudden and frankly unexplained departures of key backroom staff recently has been unsettling to say the least.
While New Zealand’s subsequent defeat to Argentina and then their two losses in South Africa have rather emphasised that England in fact blew a rare chance to take their summer series against the All Blacks. Could that have been managed a little better?
Was it quite as positive as everybody made out?
PGP Deal
It also seems to me the new PGP agreement leaves a huge onus on Borthwick himself to make it work through his empathetic interaction with individual directors of rugby.
When it comes to England and their medical team demanding a player be rested at club level, little is actually set down in stone, there is no black and white contract he can enforce, it’s the England coach who must somehow set the new parameters without upsetting everybody.
That’s a big burden and methinks there could be trouble ahead.
Not for the first time you are left wondering why England don’t have a DoR figure of their own to deal with such matters, the line manager Clive Woodward has always argued for and indeed at one stage wanted to be.
The anti Woodward brigade at Twickenham have always cravenly dismissed what is manifestly a good idea.
Let the coach do his stuff and build a team, let a DoR with broad shoulders do all the politics and take the heat.
So far it’s all been plain sailing, the calm before the storm.
Pressure On?
No pressure whatsoever to work miracles in the 2023 Six Nations and no real pressure to perform in the World Cup despite a freakish magic carpet of a draw that transported them comfortably to a semi-final against South Africa.
A big one-off performance and they would have been in the final. It didn’t happen but it was all smiles because there had been such modest expectations.
This year’s Six Nations felt better but that was largely down to one uplifting performance and win against Ireland and a decent performance in Paris.
It’s a start, fair enough, but it has also raised expectations. Every England performance is now judged against the high bar of that triumph.
The analysis and criticism will now be much harsher.
Promising defeats and attractive performances buy you a certain amount of time, but there comes a moment when they must morph into wins while mid table anonymity in the Six Nations is never acceptable for England for more than a season or two.
Thus far Borthwick can reflect on a fourth and third which, if you take away all the noise, is middling.
Improvement Expected
An improvement will be expected while this November the fans and media will demand at least one win against South Africa and New Zealand and comprehensive victories over struggling Australia and Japan.
In one way it still seems very early days and Borthwick’s appointment recent, but in fact he has already taken charge in 21 Tests, just one fewer than both Brian Ashton and Andy Robinson whose tenures ended abruptly in tears.
Both Robinson and Ashton – the latter has an almost identical record as Borthwick with 12 wins – were led to believe they had time to complete their work but events overtake such promises.
Robinson wasn’t even granted a World Cup to be judged on with Ashton being parachuted in for RWC 2007 when England confounded the critics and got to the final.
Not that it did Ashton any good, he was gone by the summer of the 2008 after England (checks notes) finished second in that season’s Six Nations.
What a very odd and damaging time that was for England rugby.
So my point is you take nothing for granted in rugby, especially when dealing with a mercurial – the kindest word I can think of in this context – organisation such as the RFU.
Meanwhile, one of the more encouraging parts of the new agreement and something Borthwick should seize upon is a commitment of up to four A team games per season. Yes please.
A Team Return
The discarding of the A team programmes was a massive mistake and false economy but now England need to box clever with how they utilise the four games permitted.
The Home Unions come and go with their commitment to A team rugby so while they make their minds up, I would phone up the French ASAP and book an annual home and away challenge.
Big matches in which performance would have an immediate relevance in terms of possible Test selection, good TV and very promotable if staged at the right venue. Make a big thing of it.
The other two matches would need a little more finessing.
England’s invitation to play Portugal last season was full of good intentions but the timing was awful with the Portuguese, at best, only able to field a Third XV.
But it was a start so build on that. The best timing for Portugal would be at the end of the season as they work up for their summer Tests while England should be fluid with their selections.
We are always arguing that not enough recently graduated England U20 players get enough rugby in their first season or two of senior rugby which fixtures like this can help combat.
The A team is also England’s official capture side which is another consideration in these days of endlessly fluid nationality.
As for a fourth game, a regular fixture with Georgia is surely the way forward.
I’d stage the fixture in Tbilisi every year, a proper road test for whatever calibre of A team England cares to select, but presumably England would want to host it on alternate years to get a gate to help finance the A team programme.
Whatever, but just get these matches booked and on the schedule.
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