1
Borthwick: Clash with Farrell and what pleased him most about England
England boss Steve Borthwick has played down his half-time incident with Ireland coach Andy Farrell. The respective head coaches exchanged words at Twickenham with the Irish 8-12 ahead at the break, but it was Borthwick who had the final say as his team hit back to dramatically seal a 23-22 win with a last-gasp Marcus Smith drop goal on a penalty advantage.
ADVERTISEMENT
The result shattered Irish hopes of winning unprecedented back-to-back Guinness Six Nations Grand Slams while it also ensured that the 2024 title race will go down to the final weekend with Ireland hosting Scotland and England taking on France next Saturday.
Regardless of that outcome, England’s round four win over Ireland has ensured that they will finish the championship with more wins than losses for the first time since 2020, ending fears they were on the cusp of finishing out this year’s campaign badly on the back of their underwhelming 21-30 February 24 loss to Scotland.
The English response – beating Ireland by a point and eclipsing them 3-2 on the try count – left Borthwick chuffed in the aftermath. “The thing that pleased me the most was post the defeat in Scotland when I have seen teams get pulled in all kinds of different directions,” he enthused.
“I saw that in my time as a player, I have seen it as an assistant coach here. What pleased me the most was that the players stayed absolutely true to the path we are trying to follow and tried to take the next step for progress and they applied themselves.
“We asked them to do things a little bit differently and they did that led by the man next to me [Jamie George] and that takes a lot of courage to try and do things a bit differently. They have done that and we will do that again next week. I want an improved performance against France.”
Asked what had taken place at the interval with Farrell, he said: “That’s between Andy and I. I know people want to read into things but Andy and I have a good relationship.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We were co-captains together at Saracens as players, we coached together on the Lions in 2017 and I have an incredible respect for him and what he has done with that team which, as I say, is a phenomenal team.”
So all good then? “Absolutely fine. Andy and I have known each other for a long time, we played with each other for England. We both represented England in the 2007 World Cup, so we go back a long way and what he has done with the Ireland team is just incredible, very special. They are an incredible team and I thought today was a very special Test match.”
The English Test victory was quite the step forward given how widely they were written off on the back of their Scottish Gas Murrayfield capitulation. “I’m really pleased for the players,” added the coach.
“They worked exceptionally hard since we came together in Girona a few weeks ago and we have been progressing each week and aspects of our game have been improving each week but for the players to have the tangible reward of the victory today against such a good team, that’s important.
ADVERTISEMENT
“And it’s also really important for the supporters. Jamie has said many times about how he wants to make the supporters feel, how he wants the supporters to enjoy it and bring them on the journey with us.
“I thought Twickenham was magnificent tonight, the supporters left with a smile on their face as well. For us, we will enjoy this tonight and ensure we will be better next week… We concentrate very much on our progression; the team has been progressing and the team has progressed each week.
What Andy Farrell and Steve Borthwick had to say post-game following their half-time tunnel incident, from Liam Heagney ?? at Twickenham #ENGvIRE #IrelandRugby #EnglandRugby #GuinnessM6N #rugby pic.twitter.com/UFFsPu12cf
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 9, 2024
“Sometimes it is really visible and everybody sees it and everybody talks about it and sometimes it’s not as visible. Sometimes it’s not as overt but the team has been progressing and that has been the message we talk about, keep moving forward and that’s what we will continue to do.
“We have got a long way to go as a team. We’re four games in and on this journey this is another step in the right direction. The first period was trying to get a team ready to try and win the World Cup and now we are four games into trying to build a new team, a new way of talking about the evolution of the team.
“This is an important step in the evolution of the team. It’s a step but we need to take another step next week.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Only 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
199 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
7 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
7 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
199 Go to commentsWho hurt this man.. LoL 😭
199 Go to commentsIt unfortunate for the Jaguares that they became formidable just as super rugby as we knew came to an end. However, the idea of bringing them back is nonsensical. While I enjoyed the Jaguares and the South African flavour of the comp, a selling point of this incarnation of super rugby is that all games are on a decent time for an Aussie audience.
3 Go to commentslol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
199 Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
3 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
7 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
7 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
199 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
199 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
199 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
6 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
6 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
7 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
199 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to comments