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England boss Borthwick on the 'version' of Wales he is expecting
By Liam Heagney
England head coach Steve Borthwick has shared his thoughts on Wales ahead of Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations round two encounter at Twickenham.
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Warren Gatland’s side produced a wildly oscillating performance versus Scotland, falling behind by 27 points before mounting an inspired comeback that only just fell short in a 26-27 defeat in Cardiff.
This inconsistency between the first and second half would have left England’s analysts with much more to review about Wales, but Borthwick believes the second half will be the Welsh version that turns up in London.
“We’d certainly expect that Wales performance in the second half, we’d expect them to deliver that standard,” he reckoned when asked on Thursday for his thoughts about how Gatland’s Rugby World Cup quarter-finals played in Six Nations round one.
“At the start of the tournament things like that can happen. There were things you saw in our game (versus Italy in Rome), there were mistakes in our game but through the game, the team looked better and better, looking more and more cohesive. Things like that can happen. We expect the best version of a very good Wales team.”
Like Wales, England were behind on the half-time scoreboard last weekend. However, unlike the Welsh whose comeback was unsuccessful, the English turned around a 14-17 deficit to win 27-24.
Despite that fightback, there was work-ons in Borthwick’s in-tray this week at Pennyhill. “Post the game there was particularly a lot of conversation around the defence, and I thought again – if I use that phrase – that promising start, I think that is what it was.
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“You saw commitment from the players to do things differently in basically three training sessions. We have had two more training sessions this week and I said there were areas that we would attend to, there were areas we need to improve upon and that is what we have gone and done this week.”
England capped five rookies against the Italians and all five are again included to face the Welsh, Fraser Dingwall and Ethan Roots from the start and Chandler Cunningham-South, Fin Smith and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso from the bench.
Playing at Twickenham in an international will be a new experience for all of them, but Borthwick was glad of the steps being taken behind the scenes to ensure they won’t be overawed.
“We talk a lot in the squad about consistency, how we approach each day, trying to get that little bit better each day, trying to ensure that we learn in every opportunity. The players coming into the squad have adapted really well,” reckoned the England coach.
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“The senior players, the players with more experience, have got to take enormous credit for how they welcomed those players in.
“As we look towards Twickenham on Saturday, the senior guys have spent a good amount of time talking to the younger players about what an incredible place Twickenham is and what an incredible stadium it is, what an incredible atmosphere it is; already trying to get the players used to what to expect Saturday.”
