mens
nations-championship
Steve Borthwick hailed England’s defensive performance Australia after a week where that area of their game will inevitably come under greater scrutiny.
Shaun Edwards revealed last week that he had spoken to Borthwick about potential joining England setup, just for the head coach to stick with his existing staff.
This has inevitably drawn more attention to England’s defence, and in particular to Richard Wigglesworth, who currently oversees that part of the team.
But England responded strongly in Sunday’s 45-22 rout Nations Championship victory over Australia at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, conceding just three tackles in the first half.
The only break in the Wallabies’ line before the break came after an interception resulted in a Max Jorgensen try, with England otherwise keeping the visitors largely at arm’s length.
“I spoke last week about bridging the gap between PREM and Test rugby, particularly in a couple of areas – one is defense and one is around the ruck,” Borthwick said after the win.
“They’re going to stretch you with their speed and athleticism, test you at the breakdown. We’re in an era right now where the offense is at the top.
“I thought it was a very, very good defensive performance. The players really embraced that challenge and that difference.”
England led 19-10 at half-time before taking control after the break, eventually recording their highest ever points total against Australia.
Discipline has been another significant source of encouragement for Borthwick after becoming one of England’s most persistent problems this year.
Across the road Six Nations England alone collected nine cards and spent almost 30 per cent of their playing time with less than 15 men. The problem did not disappear even during the summer. They were reduced to 13 by the end of the defeat South Africa before another run of cards, a four, left them dangerously close to losing Argentina in their last test in July.
That led England to confront the issue during one of their recent camps, with Borthwick revealing the players had agreed among themselves how their behavior needed to change.
Not only did England manage to avoid any bookings in London, they kept their penalty to seven, four fewer than their opponents. It is no coincidence that such statistics belong to the winning side.
“They made some clear commitments to each other, to the team, about what we were going to do going forward, and I thought we made progress in that hour,” he said.
There was similar encouragement in attack even though England only had two sessions to work on that side of the game.
Borthwick highlighted England’s speed in positioning, their ability to attack both sides of the pitch and the benefit of operating with two playmakers, although he felt there were still periods where they became too lateral.
However, even after scoring six tries, he believes there is still more to come.
“I think there’s another gear, I’m looking and looking,” he said.
“I think there’s another gear in this team, and I think that’s really enjoyable and exciting.”
