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'Borthwick is running too tight a ship' – Andy Goode
By Andy Goode
Steve Borthwick has named more squads than I have had hot dinners this summer – but he keeps missing the opportunity to connect with England fans. Selection is obviously one of the most important jobs for an international head coach and he has made some big calls I disagree with, but that is completely subjective and he has earned the right to make them.
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However, it is also incumbent on an international boss to consider so many of the finer details to get the country behind their team and to develop an environment in which players can thrive. One of the biggest criticisms of the back end of the Eddie Jones era was that England looked like they were playing in a straitjacket and Borthwick needs to loosen up and let his chosen ones express themselves.
Hopefully, we will see some evidence of that in the Summer Nations Series but we are yet to do so in his tenure and it isn’t just on the pitch that we need to see it – the work starts behind the scenes and away from the field of play.
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We know Borthwick’s England are going to be drilled to within an inch of their life but we need to see personality too. The public want to be engaged and I feel he is running too tight a ship.
It was a very closed shop with regard to the media during his time at Leicester and it seems similar with England at the moment, but the players should be rugby’s biggest asset and you can’t underestimate how important it is for them to connect with the paying public.
Some of the new replica kits released last week cost £125 for adults and £95 for kids, which will price a lot of people out of the market, and I’m hearing sales of hospitality and travel are down as well. The sport is on its backside financially and it would certainly help the coffers to have an engaged and passionate fan base that has a real affinity with the national team. Instead, I hear from a lot of people who feel disenfranchised and more disconnected from the players who are playing for them than ever before.
Tigers won the Premiership under Borthwick and he did a lot of things right but everything that came out of the club was tightly controlled, went through him and fitted with his narrative rather than players being able to speak freely and openly on different topics.
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Of course, we see the odd photo from England players on social media and a bit of content on England Rugby’s official channels, but we don’t see enough of them in the wider media and that access is something that is sorely needed.
If you compare that to the England cricket team, they may have just lost the Ashes because of rain in Manchester of all things but the fans have really got behind the team as a result of a clear, exciting game plan and individual personalities being allowed to shine through.
A lack of access isn’t a problem that is exclusive to England in rugby but, while the cricketers are doing podcasts and newspaper columns as well as giving lots of time and insight to Sky as a broadcaster, the country’s best rugby players are largely kept hidden away.
It’s probably a long shot to expect the pre-World Cup training camps to produce a radical new Borthball approach that rivals English cricket’s Bazball, but Borthwick has to take the shackles off a bit and that can start with access off the pitch.
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Even when we do hear from England players and Borthwick right now, there is always an undercurrent of negativity. They are obviously going to say they are excited and enjoying themselves, but it’s often prefaced with how far behind they were.
You can see it now, that if England get to a quarter-final or semi-final, they will tell us how well they have done given how little time they had to prepare with a new coaching team. There needs to be a shift to a more positive mindset and a belief that they can win the World Cup.
We know they are not going in as favourites or even in the top three or four, but we don’t need to keep hearing what the problems were. Borthwick has had a full Six Nations, plenty of camps and months in charge and should start focusing on the positive work he has done.
England’s cricketers may have lost the Ashes but viewing figures were great. The series captured the imagination of the country, the style of play was thrilling and the players seemed approachable and relatable to supporters.
It would be amazing to think that England’s rugby players will go one better and win the World Cup, but cricket has certainly shown the template for how they should go about their business if they want to get everyone behind them.
The bottom line is Borthwick is a protégé of Jones but if England do what they have done in recent years, they won’t get close to winning the World Cup so he has to take a gamble and rewrite the script.
That does need to include a more ambitious, attacking game plan but it also has to mean getting rid of the arrogance that fans will support the England team no matter what and involve a conscious effort to reconnect with them, which should really be an easier fix.
Well said.
Interesting that all the newspapers carry the same story at the same time. Today it was Ben Earl, for instance. As far as tactics go the two main talking points emerging from the training camp were the discarding of Mercer and Mitchell, both flair players. It's clear in what direction Borthwick is going. His enlisting of what seems like the entire Tigers coaching staff demonstrates where he is. So he'll select his big Leicester players and kick a lot. There are flair players available. I hope he has Pearson in the back row, keeps Smith for when we fall behind, and Cokanasiga and Arundell to frighten the opposition. I have my doubts though.
His got the wrong player's it to forward oriented so they will be slow because he as dro pped the best scum half I've not seen for the las12 years in Harry Raall if he's in they have a better chance if not play Danny care
100% watch any of the England weekly videos. Its as dry as F. And then Borthwick comes on and he sucks the energy right out of the room
By the way, you can easily underestimate things. It’s more difficult to overstate a situation. Which I think the dullard actually meant.
A good insight and you can see by his selection that he is being conservative and not wanting an alternative game plan. I'm afraid it's going to be direct one dimensional form of rugby. Won't get further than their group I'm afraid. 🥲
Maybe he just doesn't trust the media and who can blame him. This column is an example of the waffle that is reported in the name of journalism. If the 6 nations taught us anything its that there's a lot of work to do. England need to return to winning ways to make the fans happy.
Given that Borthwick has taken his coaching team with him from Tigers in its entirety it seems likely that he won't deviate too far from the style of Rugby that he had success with there, it must be noted though that he doesn't have players such as liebenberg, Wiese montoja and Nadolo.wirh him at England.
I hope we see a little more enterprise.
Rugby's on its arse, Andy.
100% right. You need to deliver the drama of the overall narrative, not just the pride in a great RWC performance.