Borthwick plotting New Zealand’s downfall this week with scouting mission
Steve Borthwick will begin plotting New Zealand’s downfall this week as he looks to build on England’s encouraging end to the Guinness Six Nations.
A stunning victory over Ireland in round four and agonising near-miss against France in Lyon on Saturday have generated excitement around a team that is now playing their most ambitious rugby for four years.
While finishing third in the table will hardly have set alarm bells ringing in the All Blacks’ camp ahead of the summer tour, the threat posed by England’s attack against two of the best international sides will have been noted.
Borthwick will head to New Zealand for a scouting mission on Monday, accompanied by head of strength and conditioning Aled Walters, who will also continue preparations for the first leg of the tour in Japan.
“I’ve got to go and put plans in place for where we are going to be and how we will do it, so that we prepare properly,” Borthwick said.
“I did Japan just before the start of the Six Nations, with a visit there, and then Aled is going to Japan as well, after New Zealand.
“In a week’s time we will understand exactly where we are going with our training programmes, our locations, our venues, so we give the team the best opportunity to get the result we want.
“I’ll be taking the very best players that are available for selection at that point in time.”
After a humdrum start to the Six Nations, England came alive in the final two rounds by scoring seven tries and only losing to France when Thomas Ramos landed a long-range penalty in the final minute.
George Ford insists the revival was borne out of their deflating nine-point loss to Scotland on February 24, a result that sparked considerable soul-searching due to the high error count.
“Our mindset since the Scotland game has been to really go at teams with the ball in hand,” Sale fly-half Ford said.
“Be a threat, ask questions, fire shots, be that attacking team and be on the front foot a lot more. You have seen that in the last two weeks.
“We had to front that up after Murrayfield. We had to make a choice. It was off the back of that game when we had to have a few honest conversations about things and decide what team we want to be.
“We were putting bits and parts together, but we didn’t have the feeling we’ve had the past two weeks. We’ve probably made a good thing out of a bad there.
“You never want to go through those situations, but when you do you’ve got to learn and come out the other end of them.
“We’re improving and there’s a good base. We still need to improve on that but the penny’s dropped in terms of what type of team we want to be. And how dangerous we can be.
“We all play rugby because we want to score points and want to score tries. You’ve got to do all the other things as well but we’re in a good place now – and we want to get better.”
Comments on RugbyPass
It’ll be very interesting to see how Razor’s AB’s handle the new England rush D. It’s basically the Bok recipe they copied, so if England goes well then we know most likely the Boks will go well too. If England cops a hiding then we’ll have to study and adapt.
4 Go to commentsTypical trait of an australian is to moan. Goes well with there lack of humbleness as evident by the Reds bench on the weekend.
2 Go to commentsSBW’s bro’town commentary and lazy default to hyperbole should be ignored, a technical analyst he is not. Sotutu is a good player when games get goosey loosey, high skill set that fans of Zinzan recall with starry eyes. But you need power and mongrel at no8 in the Test arena and Sotutu gets found wanting there, much like Akira Ioane. No8’s like Zinzan and Ardie have bucketloads of mongrel and power and tenacity which allow the skill sets to flourish.
11 Go to commentsAn inside pass to attacker on the angle can make a drift defence look lead footed. Relies on fleet footed forward/s to get across from the breakdown. An argument for the smaller faster 7 perhaps?
4 Go to commentsSensational tackle. The reds one was late and rightly penalised. The other two were simultaneous with the pass. If nitpicking TMOs can’t find fault there clearly isn’t any.
2 Go to commentsBrumbies fully deserved their win on the back of their physicality and desire to control the ball. Xavier Numia, Asafo Aumua and Tyrel Lomax should be the ABs starting front row when we start our test schedule. They have “come of age” and have bested all they have faced as well as been dominant with ball in hand in making the gainline. With De Groot, Tamaiti Williams and Fletcher Newell backed up by Taukei'aho and Cody Taylor there's not an international front row that can trouble us. Can't wait to face the Boks over there, won't be no one point game this time.
5 Go to commentsKinda strange that he wasn’t with a premiership team or a higher level of rugby? Start playing late or something? With that kind of size and athleticism you’d think someone would have picked him up?
2 Go to commentsShows how much attitude matters. Last week the Brumbies got done, this week they dominated the tournament leaders, who were likely thinking they could cruise to victory.
5 Go to commentsA Turtle has more pace and leg drive than Owen Franks, so it’s a good thing he only had to run 90 metres for that try.
2 Go to commentsOh Tamati Tua was in the vastly over-rated Leon MacDonalds Blues system? Well, no wonder he was wasted, much like Emoni Narawa and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens under MacDonald. now look at them. Good thing Tua isn’t eligible, the Aussies latch on to any player who isn’t tied down.
5 Go to commentsMark Telea is a lot of things, but a defensive juggernaut has never been one of them. There will be far bigger tests in that regard for the youngster.
11 Go to commentsLove and respect to Fiji but not a chance outside of 7s
4 Go to commentsGood summation Ned. Agree the Canes were out-muscled for once (except at the scrum!) by a focused Brumbies outfit. Tua deserves consideration for higher honors after the way he humbled Jordie and the Canes defense. Thankfully, his lack of eligibility for Oz keeps him from Joe’s plans. While I also agree the injuries affected the Canes performance, some players seemed to lack focus and intensity for this match. Perhaps after the Blues demolished the Brumbies, they thought it was going to be easy? A good reminder that any slip up in preparation can have a big affect on the result. Brumbies deserved that win.
5 Go to commentsKarl Dixon should never have been appointed this fixture, absolute disgrace, He’s not much of a referee anyway, didn't have the balls to send his mate care off
5 Go to commentsBrilliant article! Harry of 8/9
4 Go to comments‘UK athletes' have been in the NFL from the start.
2 Go to commentsIt’s going to be Scott Barrett. He’s the coaches mate and captain of a previously elite team. Ardie a great option but scooter has worked with the coach and Ardie still as big a leader as needed.
23 Go to commentsI commend Colin Scotts bio All Balls. He was the first Aussie to make it to NFL. But he was poached and did a full apprenticeship at the University of Hawaii. He was 130kgs surfed played 1st grade cricket etc. big guy by normal but not NFL standards and a top athlete. Even then the nfl were picking up Tongans and Samoans for their natural size and explosive power. They want explosive power not cardio from the big boys so a guy like Taniela Tupou would have been good if picked up young enough. He has fast twitch and they’d bulk the little lad up and give him something to do. soccer teams set up academies and look for Over Sara’s talent eg Messi was at Barcelona since a teenager and harry kewell went to Leeds as a teenager like 16 or something.
11 Go to commentsThe article alludes to the fact that this isn’t about picking a captain. But picking a great captain. So who would make for a great All Black captain - not just an obvious or safe shoo-in? I’m not sure Ardie’s the guy and Barret doesn’t stand out either.
23 Go to commentsI guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
45 Go to comments