Steve Borthwick breaks silence on England’s Ireland humiliation and sack calls | Rugby | Sport
Steve Borthwick reflected on England’s home defeat to Ireland. (Image: ITV)
England boss Steve Borthwick blasted the negativity surrounding his team as fans called for the RFU to sack him after a 42-21 defeat to Ireland. The Red Roses were handed one of their heaviest Twickenham losses ever, a week after going down to Scotland in Edinburgh, piling the pressure on Borthwick and his staff.
In January, Borthwick hoped that supporters would cross the channel for their final match against France, aiming to win the Six Nations. However, they appear closer to the Wooden Spoon than the French and Irish sides, having been torn apart by Andy Farrell’s outfit, with all of England’s flaws publicly exposed.
“Two weeks ago after 12 wins on the bounce, people were talking about us being the best team in the world and now they’ll be saying all kinds of other things and neither is true,” Borthwick told ITV.
“We’re always a team that’s on a journey of development that has a lot of growth in it, that’s what I believe in this team. Look at the two teams today and that England team is going to be a lot better in two weeks’ time.”
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He continued: “Unfortunately, the last two weeks, we’ve let the opposition get that start and left ourselves with too much of a mountain to climb. Ireland probably influenced how much we’ve played, which led to a few more turnovers and then gifting opportunities for the opposition to score.
“It’s probably been like that for the past two games so I’ll take a close look at that and ensure that first half is a better performance and sets us up for finishing the job in the second half.”
The RFU have been flooded with calls to sack Borthwick for their underperformance at the Six Nations, with former England fly-half Andy Goode admitting there are “big questions” surrounding the head coach.
Steve Borthwick remains confident about his England side’s abilities. (Image: Getty)
“England getting schooled here a load of players playing nowhere near their level,” he wrote on X during the match. “Big questions around Borthwick’s abilities as a head coach too.”
Rugby author Neil Fissler also wrote on social media: “English Rugby needs a better coach than the robotic Steve Borthwick.”
Their sentiments were echoed by @shade1964, who wrote on X: “ENGLAND Rugby going backwards absolutely shocking again time for a management change it’s becoming a farce under Steve Borthwick.”
The England official account received several messages similar to @jonnypwilson, who shared: “Borthwick’s got to go. Any half-decent coach would be beating this bang average Ireland team with the pool of talent England have.”
Meanwhile, captain Maro Itoje, on the day of his 100th England cap, insists that the players must take the blame. He added: “I guess the first half we turned the ball over too much, when we did get in their half we weren’t clinical. As players we have to own it. We have to take responsibility and make sure we’re better.
“Ultimately we weren’t accurate. We got into good positions. We didn’t come away with points or score. We know it’s not good enough. We’ll be working harder to get it right.
“We need to look after the ball. We need to make sure our possessions are accurate. Ultimately we turned the ball over too much.”
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