The Steve Borthwick reaction to a cruel England defeat

England boss Steve Borthwick has defended his decision to whip off his starting half-backs at a critical juncture in Saturday’s agonising 22-24 Autumn Nations Series defeat to New Zealand. The Allianz Stadium hosts were 22-14 ahead when Borwthick called ashore Ben Spencer on the hour, with Marcus Smith following him to the sidelines just three minutes later.

That partnership had been critical to an impressive England comeback from a 6-14 deficit 28 minutes into the November series opener, both players kicking points off the tee, while Smith also embarked on a rollicking intercept break to set to Immanuel Feyi-Waboso for a lead-taking 44th-minute try.

Despite that contribution, Borthwick opted to send on Harry Randall and George Ford and the pair were unable take England to victory. Ford, who had been short on minutes with his club Sale, was at fault for a missed tackle for Mark Tele’a 76th-minute try and he then missed penalty and drop goal attempts.

“When you have got players of the calibre of those guys, the guys who came off the bench, look at the threat that Harry Randall is and the experience that George Ford brings… Ultimately we were in a position to win that game,” he said.

Regarding the game’s final scrum where England couldn’t create a drop goal chance from the set-piece as the pack came under fierce pressure, the head coach reckoned: “There is lot of experienced players on the pitch, they know what we are trying to do. We know what we were trying to do and we get in a position to almost convert it and didn’t miss by too much.

“If you look over the last period of time, the team’s drop goal situation has been pretty successful [versus Ireland last March, for example]. We weren’t today but ultimately this was the width of a post. That’s the reality, this is the width of a post, the result goes one way or the other and that’s the nature of Test rugby. There were two good teams there today.

“To be in a position to be winning  by the margin that the team were at that point of time, there was clearly an opportunity to win the game. There were some pretty clear things why we didn’t against a very good New Zealand team. We gave them a window to get back and they took it.

“It’s important to recognise how much went right. If you look at this New Zealand team and you have got to credit them, 10 players from the World Cup final were playing there, more than 1,000 caps.

“They had more caps in their 15 than we had in our 23 but this England team, led by Jamie (George) , really played smart rugby. Unfortunately, yes, we didn’t get the win we wanted by everyone can see this team has developed into being a very strong team.”