Borthwick on the hidden luxury southern hemisphere have over England

England head coach Steve Borthwick believes his side are “tracking well” following their unbeaten Quilter Nations Series, but insists the side still need time to develop.

Borthwick’s side overcame Argentina in the final match of their November campaign on Sunday, but it looked as though the Pumas were on the cusp of putting a dampener on what has been a positive campaign for England by snatching victory at the death despite being 17-3 down at half time. England managed to hold on, with their bench yet again playing a prominent role in the final quarter.

Speaking after the match, Borthwick was keen to emphasise the experience the team is building, saying he sounds like a “broken record” by talking about the journey this side is on.

The challenge England, and all northern hemisphere sides, face, he said, is the lack of time they have together to gel compared to the southern hemisphere outfits.

Three of England’s autumn opponents – Australia, the All Blacks and Argentina – arrived at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium off the back of “four-and-a-half months” together following the July internationals and the Rugby Championship. That is a luxury England do not have, according to Borthwick.

“The team’s tracking on the progress we’ve talked about,” he said. “We said it’s a journey and I’ve said it a number of times, I’m not sure I’ve necessarily been believed about the level of experience in the team. The number of games together, the level of experience coming off the bench, that’s always something we need to develop. This autumn series has allowed us to continue that development in tough Test matches against teams who are coming off long periods of preparation and our preparation is a little bit different, but we’re really pleased with the way the players have jumped into it.

“Without meaning to sound like a broken record when every time we were asked these questions 12 months ago, Fin Baxter’s first three Tests were all against New Zealand, his fourth was against Australia and his fifth was against South Africa. We’ve got players who’ve been more in the Test arena, more often, and we need to develop depth, we need to develop experience and time together in camp.

“The England team doesn’t necessarily have a huge amount of time. The southern hemisphere have been together for four-and-a-half months now, we’ve been together four weeks. We need to maximise every minute we have together. So I apologise if I’ve repeated myself over the last 12 months, but it is what I said then, and I’ll continue to push. Time, development, the journey we’re on, the progress, it’s tracking well.”