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The Borthwick message to England 14 days out from All Blacks game
By PA
Steve Borthwick says England are determined to turn near-misses into victories during next month’s Autumn Nations Series.
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Borthwick’s men have this year lost twice to New Zealand and once to France by a combined total of 10 points and on each occasion were leading during the final quarter.
The All Blacks visit Allianz Stadium on November 2 with fixtures against Australia, South Africa and Japan to follow and Borthwick insists it is time to shed the ‘plucky losers’ tag.
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“I am clear that the team needs to consistently put itself in position to win games, which we’ve done a lot better,” England’s head coach said.
“There was a period not so long ago where we weren’t competing against the top four sides in the world. Now we’re competing against them but I want to make sure we get the job finished at the end.
“We want to make sure the Allianz Stadium is a place that our players enjoy playing and that our fans enjoy coming to because they’re seeing an England team performing and an England team winning. We’re very clear about that.
“Make no mistake, I praise the players for their performances and for all their efforts because they’ve done a lot of good things, but there have also been times where we have lost games as opposed to the opposition winning them.
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“We were in a winning position against New Zealand in Dunedin and we didn’t win. And then we got ourselves into a winning position in Auckland where we should have learned the lessons from the week before.
“We need to make sure we’ve learned those lessons so that they can be converted into results.”
Would’ve should’ve could’ve, go and do it then, we are waiting
I think England, Ireland and France will happily take you up on that. It Italy topple Argentina, I'd be a little cautious there too. You're ranked #3 in the world, probably 4th or 5th team. A little humility required.
I dislike England as do many but your advice will better serve Nz. England will likely take this one as will France and Ireland.
He's on the button. ABs were poor in the RC in 2nd half and last quarter.
Great to see so many of England’s likely starters having good games this weekend, chief among them being Ollie Lawrence who got POTM once again.
The quality of the Premiership is up again this year. Bristol and Saracens was a classic among several high quality games. England still have Felix Jones who will be extremely useful for the NZ and SA games.