Borthwick claps back at Zach Mercer over England selection remarks

England head coach Steve Borthwick has said he has outlined in private what Gloucester No.8 Zach Mercer needs to do to put himself back in the selection frame for Test involvement.

A clearly disappointed Mercer told the BBC last week that he was ‘done with England’ – for the time being at least – following his failure to make Borthwick’s Guinness Six Nations squad.

Mercer returned from two extraordinary seasons with Montpellier in France to Gloucester with an eye to competing for an England spot. He wasn’t able to crack England’s Rugby World Cup squad however and is now missing out again on a major squad.

“I’m done for the time being with that and I’m just going to focus on Gloucester. To come back and get given three weeks in a training camp and that was it, I was really disappointed with that,” said Mercer. “I’ve been open with Steve, I’ve told him my opinions on it. I thought I haven’t really been given a crack which is what I feel like, to not even be given a game to try and prove myself is tough.”

While Borthwick says he hasn’t seen Mercer’s remarks, he did confirm that he has outlined in private where he feels the snubbed back row needs to improve.

“Zach and I had a conversation last week. We’ve had a number of conversations over the last couple of weeks with Zach since he’s come back from injury.

“We’ve highlighted areas where players have done well and the areas where they bring a point of difference. It’s a competitive arena.

“And [we highlight] areas where we want them to develop them and add to their game. That’s the same conversation I had with Zach.

“When I’m talking to a player, I’m basing it in objectivity. I’m basing it on targets for them to go after, and then we can shape a shared understanding of what we’re seeing.

“Granted, sometimes as a coach you want something specific in a team, I’m always looking at all the coaches and all the players that are able to provide that.”