Borthwick claims dismal pre-World Cup type helps England squad
England slipped to a record-equalling low of eighth on the planet rankings, with a first-ever defeat by Fiji at Twickenham.
Fiji dispatched Borthwick’s sorry England 30-22 in west London, with the Red Rose males shedding to a present tier two Test workforce for the primary time of their historical past.
England have conceded 30 tries in 9 matches on head coach Borthwick’s watch, with defence specialist Kevin Sinfield clearly underneath intense scrutiny.
New assault guru Richard Wigglesworth and scrum specialist Tom Harrison may even come underneath the microscope in what’s now a bona fide disaster.
England should face Argentina in Marseille on Saturday, September 9 to open their Rugby World Cup marketing campaign.
Borthwick insisted he’s unfazed if the Pumas at the moment are put in as favourites for that essential Pool D encounter – and the previous England captain maintained he has full religion in his teaching set-up and their strategy.
“I’m very confident in all the people around the team, the players, the coaches, the management,” mentioned Borthwick. “Today’s not the result or aspects of the performance that we wanted. We are all disappointed by that.
“Now what we need to do is ensure that in two weeks’ time the performance against Argentina is what’s required. We’ve got a very talented group of players that I’m sure will play exceptionally well against Argentina.”
Fiji shocked England with an exhibition of tempo, energy, aptitude, elan and correct ending. In impact all the weather that England lack. England ran in three tries of their very own, however missed some 27 tackles and had been once more incoherent in each side.
Borthwick might discover himself presiding over the worst England workforce in trendy instances except a big upturn might be discovered, and quick. The England boss insisted the adversity of three defeats in 4 matches this month has solely introduced his gamers and employees nearer collectively.
Despite providing an look of calm in public, when requested if he’s indignant privately, Borthwick replied: “Everybody around the England team, the players, the coaches, the management, care deeply about the team, about English rugby.
“So we are very disappointed in the result today and aspects of the performance. We are very clear about what we need to do to move forward over the next two weeks.
“I think we’re very clear that today there are a couple of areas we need to address in the next two weeks, and we’ll make sure we’re ready for Argentina.
“In terms of the players, I’m very happy with the squad we’ve got, I think we’ve got a very talented group of players. The most important thing right now with the group we have, the players, the coaches, the management.
“I’ve been involved with other England teams before that, under pressure and in difficult circumstances, under adversity and some similar challenges to what we’ve faced in the last few weeks, have come apart.
“What I sense is a group that’s coming even tighter together. We’re looking forward to France next week and we’re looking forward to getting into this World Cup.”
England should absolutely nonetheless be heading in the right direction to succeed in the quarter-finals, given they’ve fortuitously fallen into the best pool of the competitors.
Japan will not be the pressure of 4 years in the past, whereas Chile’s minnow standing can’t be ignored and Samoa could effectively have misplaced an edge come the ultimate spherical of pool fixtures. Argentina are extraordinarily harmful and succesful nonetheless, mixing physicality, pace, guile and uncooked ending potential.
When requested how far off the world’s greatest England have now fallen, Borthwick replied: “Our focus is the game against Argentina in two weeks.
“It would be remiss to start talking about any other aspect than that game, and you wouldn’t expect me to focus on anything other than making sure the team is right to play against Argentina in two weeks.”
And quizzed if England are favourites for the Argentina match, Borthwick added: “It’s immaterial. That’s not a point that I’m considering at any point and never do in any game.
“We are preparing to play a very good Argentina side that have just come out of the Rugby Championship. And we’ve got a very good group of players who are very determined to get the result we want against them.”