Steve Borthwick hints at England changes for Italy Six Nations clash
Steve Borthwick hints he will ring the changes for England’s Six Nations clash with Italy… as defeat by Scotland increases pressure on the Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell combination
- England were beaten 29-23 by Scotland in their Six Nations opener on Saturday
- New head coach Steve Borthwick has hinted at making changes against Italy
- Jamie George admits England’s players need to take accountability on the field
Steve Borthwick hinted on Sunday that he will not be afraid to make changes to his team as England seek the winning Six Nations formula.
England’s defence was exposed as Scotland turned around an eight-point deficit to retain the Calcutta Cup 29-23 on Saturday.
The result heaped pressure on the 10-12 combination of Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell, with Ollie Lawrence and Manu Tuilagi waiting in the wings as more powerful alternatives. Asked if he would give his starting XV a shot at redemption against Italy on Sunday, Borthwick said: ‘One of the fundamental things is picking the right team for the way we want to play against that specific opponent.
‘It’s not about individuals, it’s about the team succeeding. Sometimes you play a different role. Sometimes you’re starting, sometimes you’re coming off the bench and sometimes you’re one of the non-23 but all that matters is the team.
‘If we can build an ethos here to make sure that the team is the most important thing then I think we’ll have an opportunity.’
Defeat increased pressure on the combination of Marcus Smith, right, and Owen Farrell, left
Steve Borthwick hinted he will not be afraid to make changes following the loss to Scotland
Borthwick and England’s new coaching team had just 11 days to prepare for the fixture following the sacking of Eddie Jones.
Any hopes of a quick fix were dashed on day one, but hooker Jamie George maintained an optimistic outlook on the rebuilding process.
‘We’re all very, very ambitious people,’ said the hooker. ‘We want to take English rugby back to the top and we’re aware it hasn’t been good enough, especially in the autumn.
‘Eddie took the brunt of it in terms of losing his job. But at the same time, we were the people on the field. So we have to take accountability for it too.
‘The way we’re applying ourselves is encouraging. The new faces coming in are bringing a huge amount of energy and I’m still hugely excited about the process.
‘This was the start of the campaign, the start of the Steve Borthwick era, and there are some seriously exciting times ahead.’
Despite the result, there were positive signs in England’s attacking play. Nick Evans’ coaching fingerprints could be seen on the new-found tempo as he linked up with his Harlequins colleague Smith.
‘We want to play at a different tempo than anyone has seen before,’ said Smith.
Hooker Jamie George admitted England’s players need to take accountability on the field
‘I think we’re trying to shock ourselves as to how fast we can play, how much pressure we can put on the opposition and on ourselves to play at this speed.
‘If we get to that pace we’ll shock ourselves and we’ll shock opposition. It’s going to take time. It’s going to take mistakes to happen for us to build and learn.
‘I thought when we scored we showed glimpses of that and we’ve just got to be more alert and more switched on through the 80 minutes. ‘I thought it was a much better performance than we showed in the autumn.’
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