Borthwick: The big England changes that made all the difference

England head coach Steve Borthwick has identified the experience on the bench as the deciding factor in his side’s 26-25 victory over France in round two of the Guinness Six Nations at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium. 

The hosts found themselves in a similar position to ones they have frequently been in over the past year- holding the lead in the second half only to be on the wrong side of the scoreline in the closing stages. On this occasion, however, substitute Elliot Daly was able to cross the whitewash in the 78th minute to deliver the late win.

When reflecting on the match, Borthwick said “there were a lot of similarities” to the loss to Ireland in round one, where England led at half-time and were ground out of the game by the Irish bench.

On this occasion, Borthwick hailed his own bench, notably three players- former captain Jamie George, Daly and Ben Curry, all of whom were not on the bench last week.

While Ben Curry started in Dublin, the other two did not feature at all, but their coach has singled out the experience they added.

George came on to earn his 98th England cap, while Daly was racking up his 70th. With almost ten caps between them for the British and Irish Lions across multiple tours, this was the type of experience England have perhaps lacked in the closing stages of matches, and one France head coach Fabien Galthie would have surely craved as only two of his eight substitutes had more than 10 caps.

“In so many ways there were a lot of similarities,” Borthwick said when comparing the two matches so far this year.

“Today, we managed to score that try at the end and push the extra pass and they did that really well.

“I think you saw Ireland’s bench last week were terrific in the way they played the second half, tactically exceptional. And I thought today we did have real impact on the bench.

“Ben Curry came on and ran so hard. I think what was also different today was that experience that came on. We saw the way Jamie George came on and added, the way Elliot Daly and added. Two guys that between them rose our caps by about 170. They increased our average age as a team by two years. But they certainly brought that intelligent experience onto the grass.”

Borthwick went on to describe what he believes will be England’s “point of difference” moving forward.

“I was delighted they kept trying to score tries today,” he added.

“I’ve said many times now, I think the point of difference with this team is going to be the way they move the ball in attack and they’ve got to keep believing in themselves. I don’t know how many times I need to say how much trust, faith, and confidence I have in these players. How good I think they can be.

“We scored four tries against that defence, which is a very, very good defence.”