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Steve Borthwick: 'The players handled it, the bench have been superb'
By Liam Heagney
England boss Steve Borthwick has paid tribute to his bench after the introduction of a half-dozen replacements helped them to complete a Guinness Six Nations comeback for the second Saturday in succession.
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Italy were beaten last week in Rome 27-24 after England’s subs helped to turn around a half-time deficit of 14-17.
Against Wales, the disadvantage was more considerable as they were down 5-14 at the break following an opening half where they were six-nil behind on the penalty count and had lost two players to yellow cards.
The introduction of sub props Dan Cole and Ellis Genge on 52 minutes was the first tactical move by Borthwick to use his bench to up the ante, changing the momentum in the scrum exchanges.
Chandler Cunningham-South, Danny Care, Theo Dan and Alex Coles all followed as England defiantly fought their way to a 16-14 win that left them two victories from two at the start of the championship for the first time since 2019.
“I always sensed from the players there was a confidence they would find a way to get the result,” insisted Borthwick in the aftermath.
“Secondly, I thought the squad had a big part to play. You saw big contributions from Dan Cole, Ellis Genge. Theo Dan and Chandler came on and had big impacts, as well as Danny Care.
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“When you have got that depth in those positions coming on and having that kind of impact, it means you can increase your intensity in the second half.
“If I go back to prior to the World Cup we identified England’s second-half performances had deteriorated since around 2018.
“We have put a big emphasis on second-half performances and what you have seen through that World Cup and examples last week and today is second-half performances more consistently improved.”
How has that change in bench impact come about? “There are a number of things:
“One is around the use of the bench; two is around the condition of the players; three is around what you do tactically and what the opposition do.
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“We have addressed it, the players handled it, the bench have been superb. I thought the bench during the World Cup was superb, and they have been in the first two rounds of this tournament.”
