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Borthwick: 'Playing for England should be the time of your life'
By Liam Heagney
Steve Borthwick has hailed the rapid progress of his England team, turning around a difficult run of form in 2023 to produce six wins in their seven matches at the Rugby World Cup.
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A tough one-point semi-final defeat to South Africa was their only loss and they signed off at the tournament by collecting the bronze medal with a 26-23 victory over Argentina on Friday night.
“I’m delighted for the players, who have worked so hard,” enthused the coach, who wasn’t tipped to get this far with his team at France 2023. “We won six games out of seven and lost one game by one point to the world champions, which shows the progress of the team.
“I always believed we would be right (for the tournament). Some challenging decisions were made, but we were clear that the World Cup isn’t played in August.
“Playing finals games is important. We want to win the gold medal; that wasn’t to be, but having finals experience has been and will be important going forward.
“I’ll view it [England’s campaign] objectively rather than emotionally; that’s the right way. While things haven’t been perfect, we have found a way to win games.”
Despite the schedule in France only just finishing, Borthwick is already laying the groundwork for England’s next outing, the February 3 Guinness Six Nations match away to Italy which will be followed by seven days later with Wales visiting Twickenham.
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“I have already started looking forward to the Six Nations in my mind,” he said about the next campaign which starts in 14 weeks’ time.
“It’s ongoing after each week and I make notes. I’ll compile that in the next two weeks and then meet with the coaches and the whole management team.
“The age profile of the squad – there are always players who decide their time has come to an end at the World Cup – is strong. There is excitement about those players. We know there are areas we are thinner than others and I need to work to find some depth in those positions.
“This coaching team only came together in June and to knit together a programme super fast. I couldn’t be more proud but I hope the players have enjoyed it. Playing for England should be the time of your life.”
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Ben Youngs was certainly someone who fitted that description, his appearance on Friday versus Argentina being the 127th of the men’s record caps holder’s career.
“From being a young player with enormous talent, he has developed as a leader who can manage the game in the highest-pressure circumstances and help the players around him. That is an enormous credit to him.”
On the other end of the career scale, Borthwick praised the performance of rookie Test hooker Theo Dan whose charge-down try was crucial in helping England to get their three-point win.
“A lot of really impressive aspects. His first lineout throw – back, double tops – shows how he is developing. You see a young man who is resilient, athletic, very powerful and he will be in this England squad for a very long time.”
