'Deal with the facts': Borthwick defends England's card trouble
Embattled England boss Steve Borthwick has hit out at the perception that his team have a discipline problem heading into the Rugby World Cup. Three different players have been shown red cards in the last four games, card trouble exacerbated by last week’s three yellows in one fell swoop versus Wales.
The latest mishap to hinder England was the 53rd-minute Billy Vunipola tackle on Andrew Porter in Dublin, a headshot that was initially yellow-carded before getting quickly upgraded to red via the TMO bunker.
That will require preparation for and attendance at a disciplinary hearing, a situation that will hamper Vunipola’s training availability in the coming days similar to what happened to skipper Owen Farrell last week and is set to be repeated with his separate appeal scheduled for Tuesday.
Borthwick was rumbustious in defending his team, highlighting that the two red cards prior to Vunipola’s sending-off, the reds for Freddie Steward and Farrell, were both rescinded days later by the rugby judiciary.
Presented with the statistic that England have been flashed seven cards of different colours in the last four games (reds for Freddie Steward, Farrell and Vunipola, along with yellows for Jack Willis, Henry Arundell, Ellis Genge and Steward), Borthwick snappily retorted: “Just be conscious that cards have been rescinded, let’s just be conscious before you enjoy quoting numbers. Let’s just deal with the facts.
“The last time we were here (in Dublin) we got a card that then got rescinded. We ended up playing 50 minutes with one man down that got rescinded. So what are we talking about exactly?”
Last weekend’s three Twickenham yellow cards was the answer given back to him. “Do you want to talk through each of them? Each one of them was a different type of incident with a different type of matter.
“One of them was a scrum offence that came from other scrum offences before that player [Genge] had gone on the pitch. What we got to do here is be conscious of what we are talking about. Do I want 15 players on the pitch? Absolutely I want 15 players on the pitch… Let’s be clear I want 15 players on the pitch.”
So where does it leave England? Waiting on disciplinary hearings for Farrell and Vunipola in the coming days, distractions that could carry over into their September 9 Rugby World Cup start versus Argentina in Marseille if either player cops a ban.
“We respected the (Farrell) process last week and we thought we had a conclusion on Tuesday and we didn’t. It’s going forward into next week, we will respect the process again. We respected the process when we were here the last time with Freddie Steward as well. We will continue to do so.
“You need to be ready to adapt,” he added regarding what the disciplinary room distractions mean for his squad of 33. “We know that all the evidence at the previous World Cups that we need to adapt.”
It’s been quite the fiery baptism for the rookie Test-level head coach, a wounding 2023 with five deflating losses in eight outings so far. “This was a great challenge against the No1-ranked side in the world [Ireland], they have been building very well over a good number of years.
“For the period where we kept 15 men on the pitch, it was a tight battle you would say. Ireland are such a strong side. It’s a big challenge and when you go to 14 men it’s very difficult.”
But what are you specifically learning as a rookie boss with all this adversity, the latest dose being the 10-29 loss to Ireland? “We move forward. All the coaches and players, we move forward every week in terms of the lessons.
“Now I have been very clear about what we need to develop in terms of priority areas over the next couple of weeks to be ready for September 9.
“I have talked about our conversion of opportunities in the final third, I have talked about that contact skill and turning over too much ball there. That is where we are going to focus our attention.
“Certain aspects aren’t where we want to be. It’s quite clear in terms of our attack we are turning over too much ball in the opposition 22, so you can’t build the phases and the momentum to get the scores.
“That is what Ireland did really well, got into the 22 and then they were able to keep ball and were able to score with different elements. Crossfield kick, wide passes. They were able to score points and we weren’t. We are disappointed that we haven’t been able to do that. We want to make sure we get progress in that area.
“We saw the players want to start to move the ball more which in terms of seeing some development we saw that, moving the ball to the edge more than we have previously. But ultimately you need to build pressure on the opposition and if you turn the ball over early in the phase count you can’t put pressure on the opposition.”
The blunt string of performances leave England heading into their final Summer Nations Series match with Fiji fancied next Saturday to pull off a result at Twickenham on the back of posing some tough questions this weekend of France in Nantes.
“They have got tremendously dangerous players and know how to play very well,” admitted Borthwick. “As soon as they see a fraction of space they have got the talent in their team that is able to capitalise on that and take opportunities.
“We want to win. Winning is a habit and we want to get wins on the board. This team hasn’t won enough games and we want to win every game we go into. We want a quality performance and we want a great result.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
5 Go to comments