by Steve Borthwick believes the England jersey is weighing heavily on his players as they try to salvage their Six Nations campaign against Ireland on Saturday and suggested inconsistent team selections during Eddie Jones’ reign were a factor who added.
As England prepare to face what Borthwick believes are “the best team in the world”, the head coach has made three changes to the side that lost 30-21 to Scotland last time out, with Immanuel Feyi -Waboso placed first and Alex. Mitchell and George Martin joining the team.
Borthwick may have gone further but Marcus Smith is expected to be set for a place on the bench after returning from a calf injury, while George Furbank remains at full-back and Freddie Steward is left out again. Instead, the head coach emphasized the importance of “continuity of selection” as he tried to ease the burden on his players.
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It’s a telling statement, coming shortly after former England wing Jonny May revealed the concern going on behind the scenes with players being pushed over their places on a weekly basis, even though Borthwick has just been named in his XV forward unchanged, and at the back only George Ford and Henry Slade were consistent winners in these Six Nations.
“We know there were errors against Scotland,” Borthwick said. This is probably the first time in a while that I have seen the weight of the shirt feel heavy on the players. As a player and in teams I was part of, I saw that many players feel the weight of that shirt and I feel the test of the team.
“The environment we want to create supports the players and we understand that mistakes are going to happen. What I am after is an answer to that. What do we learn from it? How quickly do we move on from it? If you watch the game this weekend, what game for the shirt to raise you. A great game for Twickenham to fuel the team. This is a game to add every ounce of energy and fight that is within the players together, as you are tested against the best team in the world.”
Asked how he can lift the burden on his players, Borthwick added: “I think we try to create an environment where the players enjoy themselves, where we know mistakes are going to be made, but it’s we mean to keep doing the right things. I support the players. Yes we made mistakes [against Scotland], we are disappointed in the performance and we are disappointed in the result. But I also think this is a group of players who have made huge strides over the last year, and now we’ve started the next stage of the journey in these Six Nations.
“Continuity of selection is an important factor. When I track this down … maybe the continuity of selection over the last few years hasn’t always been so clear and it hasn’t always helped the team make a lot of changes on a regular basis.
“I have looked closely at what has happened with the England team in previous cycles. I looked closely and compared. Things like selection continuity and integration. We can all see that sometimes that is not really the case. You see England doing well, in general, when they had a club team that was dominant and had a large number of players coming from one team.”
Meanwhile, Ireland welcome back Hugo Keenan against England but will be without lock James Ryan for the remainder of the Six Nations. Keenan has returned from a knee problem that ruled out the 31-7 win over Wales and replaced Ciaran Frawley in the only change to Andy Farrell’s starting XV.
Ryan, who was reduced to a fringe role during the championship, suffered a “freak” bicep injury in training on Wednesday and will sit out the second leg of the trip to Twickenham, as well as next week’s finale against Scotland. Garry Ringrose is fit after a shoulder injury but will have to wait for his first World Cup international appearance due to the impressive form of midfield pair Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki.
Ireland, chasing back-to-back grand slams behind bonus-point winners France, Italy and Wales, could retain their title with a game to spare with victory in south-west London but Farrell warned in any complacent face. “I don’t buy into the criticism at all,” he said of England’s performance so far in the championship. “I’m looking at the individuals, the way they’re playing, the coaching staff they’ve got, the plan they’ve got, a great side that’s going to be preparing to give it everything they’ve got at the weekend. .
“That makes them dangerously dangerous, we’re just preparing them to be at their best and if that’s the case it’s going to be a hell of a battle. If they are at their best, you expect them to be as hard to beat as anyone in world rugby.”
England
15 George Furbank (Northampton)
14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter)
13 Henry Slade (Exeter)
12 Ollie Lawrence (Bath)
11 Tommy Freeman (Northampton)
10 George Ford (Sell)
9 Alex Mitchell (Northampton)
1 Ellis Genge (Bristol)
2 Jamie George (Saracens)
3 Dan Cole (Leicester)
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens)
5 George Martin (Leicester)
6 Ollie Chessum (Leicester)
7 Sam Underhill (Bath)
8 Ben Earl (Sarahens)
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan (Saracens) 17 Joe Marler (Harlequins) 18 Will Stuart (Bath) 19 Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins) 20 Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins) 21 Danny Care (Harlequins) 22 Marcus Smith (Harlequins) 23 Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Ireland
15 Hugo Keenan (Leiner)
14 Calvin Nash (Munster)
13 Robbie Henshaw (Leiner)
12 Bundee Aki (Connaught)
11 James Lowe (Leiner)
10 Jack Crowley (Munster)
9 Jamison Gibson Park (Leiner)
1 Andrew Porter (Leiner)
2 Dan Sheehan (Leiner)
3 Tadhg Furlong (Leiner)
4 Joe McCarthy (Leiner)
5 Tadhg Beirne (Munster)
6 Peter O Mahony (Munster)
7 Josh van der Flier (Leiner)
8 Caelan Doris (Leiner)
Replacements
16 Ronan Kelleher (Leiner) 17 Cian Healy (Leiner) 18 Finlay Belham (Connaught) 19 Iain Henderson (Ulster) 20 Ryan Baird (Leiner) 21 Jack Conan (Leiner) 22 Conor Murray (Munster) 23 Ciaran Frawley (Leiner)
Meanwhile, Ireland welcome back Hugo Keenan against England but will be without lock James Ryan for the remainder of the Six Nations. Keenan has returned from a knee problem that ruled out the 31-7 win over Wales and replaced Ciaran Frawley in the only change to Andy Farrell’s starting XV.
Ryan, who was reduced to a fringe role during the championship, suffered a “freak” bicep injury in training on Wednesday and will sit out the second leg of the trip to Twickenham, as well as next week’s finale against Scotland. Garry Ringrose is fit after a shoulder injury but will have to wait for his first World Cup international appearance due to the impressive form of midfield pair Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki.
Ireland, chasing back-to-back grand slams behind bonus-point winners France, Italy and Wales, could retain their title with a game to spare with victory in south-west London but Farrell warned in any complacent face. “I don’t buy into the criticism at all,” he said of England’s performance so far in the championship. “I’m looking at the individuals, the way they’re playing, the coaching staff they’ve got, the plan they’ve got, the great side that’s going to be preparing to give it everything they’ve got at the weekend. .
“That makes them dangerously dangerous, we’re just preparing them to be at their best and if that’s the case it’s going to be a hell of a battle. If they are at their best, you expect them to be as hard to beat as anyone in world rugby.”
