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Borthwick hails smart England for surviving 'couple of thunderbolts'
Steve Borthwick has hailed the growing ability of his England team to roll with the punches after they dramatically won their way through to next weekend’s Rugby World Cup semi-finals in Paris. They were comfortably 24-10 ahead in their Marseille quarter-final on Sunday versus Fiji only to be hit by two converted tries in a four-minute spell.
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England capitulated just seven weeks ago when the Fijians hit them with a three-try second-half blast to win a Summer Nations Series encounter 30-22 at Twickenham.
In Marseille, though, England showcased the value of all their recent tuition by striking back to seal a memorable 30-24 victory with two kicks from skipper Owen Farrell – including a 72nd-minute lead-taking drop goal – and finishing it all off with a penalty-winning Courtney Lawes breakdown turnover six minutes into added time.
The outcome left Borthwick beaming and he made sure at his post-match briefing to remind everyone about how massively written off his team had been coming into the tournament on the back of just one win in six matches.
“Many people wrote we wouldn’t get out of the group, maybe some of them are here tonight. The team performed very, very well to top the group and then played well to find a way to win tonight.
“What we will do is recover from today’s game and then we will build towards our game next Saturday,” he said, referencing their glamour Stade de France fixture against defending champions South Africa, who knocked out hosts France in the later match on Sunday.
“The team has found itself in lots of different situations over this last period of time and we have tried to capture the learning from each one of them and I thought the players handled these situations very smartly,” the head coach continued about a campaign where they have now beaten Argentina, Japan, Chile, Samoa and Fiji.
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“Game one against Argentina, dealing with that (Tom Curry) sending off on two minutes and then the way the team responded. In game two, Japan played in a completely different manner, kicking the ball every one-and-a-half rucks on average.
“I’d never seen a Japanese team play like that. Difficult conditions. Found a way through that contest. In game four against Samoa, found ourselves in a difficult situation (trailing 11-17) and played a brilliant Q4 to find a way to win the game.
“And you see today for large parts controlled the game and then had a couple of thunderbolts that hit the team in quick succession. Not long ago an England team wouldn’t have come back to win that game. This team did.
“There is a smartness about the team, there is a composure about the team led by this man [skipper Farrell] which the team is continuing to grow and we discussed that a lot during the week, talked about scenarios in the week, talked about handling different situations.
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“We did a lot of that through our World Cup camps and the players are drawing on all these different experiences now. As for comparisons with 2007 (when a written-off England bounced back from an underwhelming pool hammering to defeat Australia and France to reach the final), this group is incredibly tight.
“This group is very clear on what they are trying to do and what they are trying to work on, which is we go about our work each week and that is what in 2007, after we had a bit of reset after game two, the team then concentrated on going about our work each week. That is what I see in this team.”
Captain Farrell, who was named as the starting out-half with George Ford benched, kicked 20 of England’s 30 points, leaving Borthwick to cheer: “I reiterate the words I have said many times about the man sat next to me, he is a fantastic leader. He is the kind of leader I know I would want to follow onto the pitch.
“He is a brilliant player who thrives in the contest and especially in these big occasions, he just gets even better. We are very fortunate to have Owen as a player in this team and as our leader. He should feel very proud of his performance and the way he led the team.”
A complimentary assessment was added about Fiji. “What is important at this point is to say credit to Fiji, what a fantastic team they are. A brilliant World Cup they have had.
“The way they played tonight, a team jam-packed full of world-class players full of pace and the way they scored those back-to-back tries, they were scored in a way not too many teams in the world could score like that.”
Comments on RugbyPass
wel the crusaders were beaten by a queensland reds side that hadnt beaten them at home since 1999 and queensland reds partied like it was 1999
4 Go to commentsHard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
4 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
4 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
5 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
5 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
238 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
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