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Borthwick: 'Playing for England should be the time of your life'
Steve Borthwick has hailed the rapid progress of his England team, turning around a difficult run of form in 2023 to produce six wins in their seven matches at the Rugby World Cup.
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A tough one-point semi-final defeat to South Africa was their only loss and they signed off at the tournament by collecting the bronze medal with a 26-23 victory over Argentina on Friday night.
“I’m delighted for the players, who have worked so hard,” enthused the coach, who wasn’t tipped to get this far with his team at France 2023. “We won six games out of seven and lost one game by one point to the world champions, which shows the progress of the team.
“I always believed we would be right (for the tournament). Some challenging decisions were made, but we were clear that the World Cup isn’t played in August.
“Playing finals games is important. We want to win the gold medal; that wasn’t to be, but having finals experience has been and will be important going forward.
“I’ll view it [England’s campaign] objectively rather than emotionally; that’s the right way. While things haven’t been perfect, we have found a way to win games.”
Despite the schedule in France only just finishing, Borthwick is already laying the groundwork for England’s next outing, the February 3 Guinness Six Nations match away to Italy which will be followed by seven days later with Wales visiting Twickenham.
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“I have already started looking forward to the Six Nations in my mind,” he said about the next campaign which starts in 14 weeks’ time.
“It’s ongoing after each week and I make notes. I’ll compile that in the next two weeks and then meet with the coaches and the whole management team.
“The age profile of the squad – there are always players who decide their time has come to an end at the World Cup – is strong. There is excitement about those players. We know there are areas we are thinner than others and I need to work to find some depth in those positions.
“This coaching team only came together in June and to knit together a programme super fast. I couldn’t be more proud but I hope the players have enjoyed it. Playing for England should be the time of your life.”
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Ben Youngs was certainly someone who fitted that description, his appearance on Friday versus Argentina being the 127th of the men’s record caps holder’s career.
“From being a young player with enormous talent, he has developed as a leader who can manage the game in the highest-pressure circumstances and help the players around him. That is an enormous credit to him.”
On the other end of the career scale, Borthwick praised the performance of rookie Test hooker Theo Dan whose charge-down try was crucial in helping England to get their three-point win.
“A lot of really impressive aspects. His first lineout throw – back, double tops – shows how he is developing. You see a young man who is resilient, athletic, very powerful and he will be in this England squad for a very long time.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Just 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.
4 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.
4 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
4 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.
4 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.
3 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!
3 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?
228 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.
88 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to comments