Borthwick branded Alan Turing-esque 'genius' by England winger
Jonny May is backing Steve Borthwick to crack the code of rugby after describing England’s head coach as a “genius” in the mold of Alan Turing and Mr Spock.
England went out on their shields in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final defeat by South Africa, losing 16-15 to a late Handre Pollard penalty, having dominated the reigning champions until the final quarter.
A heroic performance was the culmination of Borthwick’s opening 10 months in charge, having been parachuted in with the short-term objective of making the team competitive at France 2023.
He succeeded by devising a statistics-based approach that almost dethroned the world champions, leaving May to conclude England are in the best possible hands.
“We’re starting to see what a genius Steve is in terms of how he’s starting to get this team going,” May said.
“You won’t find a harder working man than Steve and his approach to the game is a little bit like Alan Turing.
“If anybody is going to crack the code to rugby it will be Steve – he’s getting ever closer each week and good luck to him.
“He’s got an analytical brain and an evidence-based, scientific, Spock-like approach to the game.
“I’ve learned a lot from him. I’ve been very grateful for all the coaches I’ve had throughout my career and I’ve absorbed everything I possibly can, always trying to learn and be curious.
“But Steve, with his ways, he’s on to something. He’s a young coach and has this unique and different way that he goes about the game.
“Cracking it is not something I’m interested in doing as the game gets more complicated each week, but he’s obsessed with it so hats off to him.”
While England can look ahead with optimism, May strongly suspects that their future does not include him.
The nation’s second-highest try scorer of all-time behind Rory Underwood will almost certainly have played his last Test at this World Cup, Friday’s bronze match against Argentina his final opportunity to pull on a Red Rose jersey.
The 33-year-old wing was only called up to Borthwick’s squad because of an injury to Anthony Watson, yet he has been a regular starter and was outstanding against South Africa, even winning a jackal penalty.
“Never say never, but very much in my head now I’m thinking, more than likely that I’ll be done after this,” May said.
“For me no regrets, what a journey, I wasn’t even going to be on the plane at one point.
“But I stuck in there and that’s the attitude across the team – we stick in there, we’ve had pretty much everything thrown at us, but we’re starting to find ourselves.
“I’m grateful to have been a part of it and although it probably won’t continue after this World Cup, I feel like I’m connected to this team. It’s making my hairs stand up now a little bit.
“To be connected like that, to be close to the boys and have those relationships, to go through these times with these friends of mine, is incredibly important to me.
“It’s been everything to me, playing for England, just absolutely everything.”
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.
87 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