England star makes thoughts clear on whether Steve Borthwick has lost squad | Rugby | Sport

Jamie George has refused to press the panic button, claiming England’s misfiring chariot can be easily fixed despite recent hammerings. Steve Borthwick’s men have collapsed to soul-destroying defeats to Scotland and Ireland in the past two rounds after conceding big early leads and destroying their Six Nations hopes.

Next up they face Italy a week on Saturday, followed by France seven days later, and defeat in Rome could leave the whole Borthwick project in ruins. On the to-do list includes improvements around the line out, breakdown, attack and defence, so England need to get their skates on. But hooker George insists the wheels can be put back on, and there is still full faith in Borthwick, ahead of the Italian match-up, even though they looked out on their feet at the end of Saturday’s 42-21 massacre by Ireland.

George, 35, said: “We aren’t that far away, which sounds funny when you do that. There was a snowball effect in both games because of the way we started.

“Everything is explainable and there are a sequence of errors and an inability to keep our own ball, and then it becomes really hard. If you are however many points down and looking to get tries, and are not able to keep hold of the ball, it that becomes really difficult.

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“To concede 40 points at home is inexcusable. There is a fair bit to fix, but at the same time, we feel very confident that we aren’t miles away. There are little technical things we need to get right.

“We’ve got really good players, we’ve got a great plan, great coaches. I’ve got no doubt we’ll be back to where we need to be against Italy.

“If you go 22-0 down, that’s always going to be very challenging to come back from. We need to make sure we don’t put ourselves in that position, then we are able to put our blueprint on the field.”

George has had experience explaining away England defeats, he was captain when the side lost a succession of games by close margins to top tier teams in 2024.

Barring a defeat in Ireland England won every game they played in 2025 but in a fortnight they have gone from a team who couldn’t lose to a team that can’t win. Discipline has been a problem with cards for Henry Arundell, in the 31-20 loss to Scotland, and Freddie Steward and Henry Pollock in the Ireland humiliation cost them.

George added: “It doesn’t feel like it has changed drastically. The results have not been good enough and those last two games have been poor. To be beaten as comprehensively as we have is disappointing. When you chase a game that much from the start, and with 14 men on the field for too long, that then it becomes really challenging.”