Steve Borthwick responds to growing disquiet, puts Jack Willis rumours to bed

Steve Borthwick understands the scrutiny of his position amid England’s five-Test losing run but is concentrating only on Saturday’s collision with Fiji.

A 45-21 defeat by South Africa opened the July tour, turning the Hill Dickinson Stadium appointment with the Islanders into a must-win encounter ahead of a tricky clash against Argentina on July 18.

In a clear indication of the stakes, Borthwick has opted against rotating his team for the middle fixture of a 25,000-mile expedition across three continents and instead named his strongest available starting XV.

Tommy Freeman moves from outside centre to the right wing where he is most dangerous and Henry Slade’s high-quality cameo off the bench in Johannesburg that has come at the end of a stellar season for Exeter sees him reinstated in the number 13 jersey.

The only change up-front is Guy Pepper’s promotion at openside, swapping places with the benched Tom Curry, while South African-born centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg, wing Noah Caluori and prop George Kloska will make Test debuts as replacements.

Following a dismal fifth-place finish in the Six Nations, Borthwick was backed by the Rugby Football Union to remain in charge for the 2027 World Cup, but Ben Youngs, Stuart Barnes and Chris Ashton are among the former England stars to be critical of the performance in Johannesburg.

Once again facing growing pressure, including from fans on social media, the head coach has urged his players to capture hearts and minds in their first appearance in the north since a fixture against Italy at St James’ Park in 2019.

“I wanted to play for England and then, when you can no longer play for England, I wanted to coach England and help this England team,” former red rose captain Borthwick said.

“And by doing that – because nobody makes you do that – you accept the scrutiny, you accept the pressure, you accept the expectation because you want to try and achieve some great things.

“When this team doesn’t perform the way we want it, we feel the hurt and pain that our supporters feel and we feel it so much because we all care so much.

“I’ve been doing this a long time – playing for England, captain of England, assistant coach, head coach – and understand what comes with it and how to manage those different aspects.

“All I focus on is this Saturday. That’s all I ever did as a player and that’s all I do as a coach.

“I hope that this weekend we can get back to winning ways and the players put on a performance that inspires.”

If England are to become a force at next year’s World Cup, they must do so without any stars based in the Top 14 after Borthwick confirmed there will be no easing of the RFU’s restriction on picking overseas-based players.

Jack Willis was named man of the man of the match as Toulouse retained the French title last month, while his younger brother Tom heads for Bordeaux as the current Gallagher Prem player of the year. Both would be valuable players for England.

“Clearly there are very, very good players playing overseas, but the rules are very clear about eligibility for England,” Borthwick said.