Borthwick has silenced England’s critics – and it changes everything ...Middle East

After a whirlwind week for Steve Borthwick, you have to commend the man and the team for the performance we all witnessed at Twickenham. It was the most complete England performance I’ve seen for a long time.

It might surprise you that when facing adversity, particularly from external voices, the impact it has on a group is staggering. The energy grows, the belief is more powerful, and it’s creates an “us against the world” mentality. It lifts you up and it’s an added motivator. Now I’m sure there’s probably some truths to the article that came out in The Times on Thursday, entitled “England stars lost faith in Steve Borthwick this summer”, and I’m sure Steve has acknowledged them and rectified them since.

You have to remember, being a coach in such a high performance environment comes with a lot of pressure, and with that mistakes do happen. As long as you rectify the mistakes but also learn, and grow from them, I don’t personally see it as a massive deal.

What would disappoint the England team is the fact this information got out. When you’re in an England environment, a lot of things happen – disagreements, fall-outs, argument – as you would expect. But you keep it in house. So a breach of trust within the group has clearly taken place.

I remember after the 2015 World Cup, a player made a mistake and went to the press about everything he didn’t agree with at England. Fast forward to 2019 and we had a massive meeting with an incredible psychologist from Australia. She gathered us together in a room and asked if there was anything that could unhinge us going into the World Cup, which was just round the corner.

I promise you she stood in this room for what felt like 10 minutes in utter silence. Her aura was amazing, locking eyes with each individual, like she knew something was being drawn out… Eventually, a player raised the concern with what happened at the last World Cup, mentioning it had never been spoken about or resolved. The outcome of that discussion was the player in question owning up and taking responsibility, and off the back of that, he was forgiven. I’d never seen a room like it my life – emotional and caring – but the power of that meeting brought us together.

I knew England would win from the first 10 minutes

You have to take your hat off to Steve and his men. They’ve only had a week in camp, compared to Australia who have barely been apart since the start of the summer. Henry Pollock being deployed to the wing was a masterstroke and he looked right at home in bagging two tries. For England to look that cohesive in the first game of this block is massively exciting going forward.

I would argue we saw the best England performance for a good two years. What’s pleased me the most was the players’ attitude, the way they imposed themselves on the opposition, and not just through the set-piece battle, or aerial game. They found the perfect balance.

Big start to the half for England! Lovely attacking move, and Jack van Poortvliet makes up for Jorgensen's try with a score of his own. pic.twitter.com/l4AOKRmrR3

In the first 10 minutes of the game I was confident England would win. I was watching a team invigorated. They were happy to play in their own half because the picture presented was to run rather than kick.

We saw Fin Smith floating out the back of forward pods and not being afraid to pull the trigger and get the ball to the danger men. It was the happiest I’d been in years watching England play.

They’ve overcome that hurdle of being afraid to make mistakes. They look like they understand that the strength of this team is an all-round pressure game, not just reliance on a few tools. And it wasn’t just the pretty fancy backs stuff either, because the forwards got to work with a few maul tries and dominant set piece as well.

Injuries are a bitter pill to swallow

It was bitterly disappointing to see Manny Feyi-Waboso and Seb Atkinson head off injured. They both had fantastic games. Seb was working tirelessly around the field, making some monstrous tackles, and linking up beautifully with Fin in attack to give us go-forward where needed. Feya, well… Feya was just doing Feya things. He really is the most devastating ball-carrier, going through gaps which aren’t even there. He’s powerful, explosive and dynamic. He just seems to reject the notion of falling to the floor.

That said, it brings the opportunity to look at the depth of England before a World Cup, where depth is so important. The two front runners for the 12 shirt would be Fraser Dingwall and Max Ojomoh. You could argue Steve will back Fraser, who has had a very solid start to the season, and the continuity he has with Fin puts him in good stead.

On the flip side, Max has had two caps for England, and was man of the match in one of them. With England playing a more rounded game and backing the prospect of moving the ball, there’s not a better centre at doing that in England. Argentina were not great against England A on Friday night, but Ojomoh made a mockery of their defence with his deception and decision-making. I would love to see him get another go.

On the wing, I’d say the two front-runners are Will Joseph and Cadan Murley. In my entirely unbiased opinion I think we may see Will Joseph get the nod. We might have seen him at 13 this week but with the injuries to 12 and 14, I’m not sure Steve will want to make too many changes, instead maintaining continuity and momentum against Japan.

What surprises will Eddie Jones spring?

We know Japan coach Eddie Jones will have something up his sleeve for this weekend, something to throw England off their game enough to give his team a chance. Maybe he’ll drop some wild grenade for newspapers to report on this week, who knows?

From a rugby perspective, there will be three main areas I envision Eddie targeting:

But I am confident England get the job done again. The challenge for the players coming in is to add to that level of performance from last week and sprinkle in their stardust when the opportunity presents itself. 

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