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Steve Borthwick insists he has RFU's 'absolute support and belief'
By Liam Heagney at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Steve Borthwick has insisted his job isn’t under threat despite England falling to their fifth defeat in row on Saturday and their seventh loss in their last nine matches. Having already agonisingly lost to New Zealand and Australia in this Autumn Nations Series by two- and five-point margins, they again relinquished a second-half lead against South Africa and were ultimately beaten 20-29.
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Borthwick is under contract with the RFU through to the end of the 2027 Rugby World Cup, but the goodwill built up with supporters during last year’s bronze medal campaign at France 2023 is now ebbing away.
A previously blunt attack has been finessed and England are scoring some delightful tries, but they have lost key staff members in recent times.
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The four tries scored by South Africa brought to 12 the number conceded under new defence coach Joe El-Abd, who was brought in as the successor to Felix Jones, who wanted out after just eight months after joining from the Springboks.
England have one more match remaining in their November campaign – next weekend against Eddie Jones’ Japan – and Borthwick departed Twickenham on Saturday night adamant that his job wasn’t on the line despite the run of losses.
“I’m not going to be talking about private conversations. What I think is more important is the feeling I get and the feeling I get from the RFU is one of absolute support and absolute belief that this team is going in the right direction and that is the feeling of everybody in the RFU.
“I am very confident that we are on the right path and I am very confident that I am working with a great group of coaches, a great group of players. I am very confident that we would be on a trajectory where we are moving along. We want things to happen now. It’s not happened now. We aim to put in a better performance next week against Japan when we are back here next Sunday.
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“I am very confident with the whole management team we have coaching. Ultimately we are getting in positions to win the games which says there is a lot of things being done really, really well.
“Now clearly we are going against teams like today, the level of experience they have and in seeing those games out. As I said, these games, it’s tough right now, it’s painful, but we work through and we will be a better team because of these painful experiences.”
Regarding his team’s latest second-half bow-out, Borthwick added: “What we saw particularly the last part, we had plenty of entries in their 22, we had plenty of opportunities to score, and there were just small moments, small lapses that in the magnitude of the game end up being hugely significant.
“That’s what we are working through and that is what we are working with the players to develop to ensure we are the team this team can go in the next few years.
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Asked if he retained full belief that the team was moving in the right direction under Borthwick, as the head coach had just insisted, skipper Jamie George said: “I couldn’t agree more. Like Steve elaborated to, of course we are disappointed with the results.
“We wanted to give the England fans three wins from three, of course we did, and if you look at the three Test matches individually there are definitely things of course we needed to get better.
“You look at today, I was really proud of the team in terms of the way they fronted up physically. Test match rugby a game of really fine margins and we created a lot opportunities against a world-class team that are back-to-back world champions for a reason.
“You speak to those guys, I was just in the (South African) changing room and they were saying they felt really under pressure, the felt the physicality of the game and that is a sign of a good team.
“What we need to do is make sure we find the fixes to be closing out those games and I have every confidence and belief in the players and the staff that we all do everything we possibly can to be a significantly better team come next week but also looking ahead to the Six Nations.”
NZ loss was unlucky; Aus loss was more a deserved when by the Aussies. so 1-1-1 really in my view. Losing two key assistant coaches is not a good look though...
Another agonizing loss for England am sure. So close yet so far. Think the team is on the right path but creeping doubt is building pressure on their momentum. If only Borthwick can leave Marcus Smith to his own devices and let him play the game in front of him, they’d be talking about different outcomes right now. Let the kid cook. Get the combinations in the backs right and England will be a team to reckon with.