Newly appointed England head coach Steve Borthwick insists that every game matters, adding that he will not prioritise the World Cup over the upcoming Six Nations.
Borthwick was announced as Eddie Jones’ successor on Monday, and his first game in charge will be the Calcutta Cup match against Scotland on 4 February.
Every game matters
Borthwick left Premiership champions Leicester Tigers to sign a five-year deal with the Rugby Football Union, effectively taking him through to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
The 43-year-old has little time to settle in, with England’s Six Nations campaign fast approaching and the World Cup kicking off next September.
However, he has revealed that he will not use the Six Nations to experiment. His predecessor was heavily criticised for focusing too much on the tournament in France, and Borthwick is adamant that every game matters.
“Every game matters. Every single game you play for England matters. The one that’s in my mind is at the start of that Six Nations,” he said.
“We will be using every minute we have to prepare this team as well as we can for the first game of that Six Nations in 47 days’ time. Then when we’ve played that game, we’ll focus on the next one, then the one after that and the one after that. We want to just keep getting better.
“We know the World Cup is not far away, but the focus is on the start of the Six Nations.”
England players hurting.
England managed five wins from 12 Tests in 2022, their worst year since 2008, which led to Jones’ sacking. Borthwick knows the players will be hurting but is confident they will get back on track with the new boss zoning in on the improvement needed in the set-pieces.
“To win Tier One Tests, you’ve got to have a quality set-piece and that’s certainly on the priority list,” he said.
“If you look at the Autumn Series, I don’t think England are ranked in the top three in any one particular facet of the game, so there are plenty of things to work on and get right.
“When I was a player, when the team was coached by Clive Woodward, in every single meeting there were posters on the wall – I was 20 to 21 – and the poster that I always referred to was one that said ‘brilliant basics’. You have to be brilliant at the basics.
“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.”
Coaching his way
Borthwick worked as Jones’ assistant coach in Japan and England before leaving the Red Rose set up in 2020 to head up Leicester.
With the relationship built between the pair over the years, the new boss confirmed that he had spoken with his predecessor during the fortnight between Jones’ dismissal and Borthwick’s arrival but added that he would bring his own approach to the role.
“I’ll coach this team my way,” said former Bath and Saracens lock Borthwick, who won 57 caps for England.
“I promise you I’ll lead in a real authentic way. I love winning.
“The other thing I really love about coaching and the way I lead is I really like helping people; I really care for the people I coach.
“The players I’ve coached at Leicester in the last two years I really care about. I take a huge amount of joy in their happiness.
“If I can help people experience highs like that, it brings me a lot of joy.”
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