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'Just boss it': Steve Borthwick urged to hand out England debut in Italy
By Josh Raisey
Former England centre Will Greenwood has said that Exeter Chiefs’ Greg Fisilau “has to come in at No.8” to make his international debut in England’s pivotal Guinness Six Nations round four fixture with Italy in Rome.
In the wake of their 42-21 loss to Ireland at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, which came a week after a Calcutta Cup defeat in Edinburgh, reams of column inches and hours of podcast airtime have been spent listing England’s myriad shortcomings.
One of England’s most glaring flaws against Ireland was how unbalanced the back-row appeared to be, with their Irish counterparts running riot at the breakdown. This was one of the few changes Steve Borthwick made after the defeat to Scotland, starting Tom Curry and Henry Pollock alongside Ben Earl, instead of Guy Pepper and Sam Underhill.
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The make-up of this back-row was even questioned before the match, with some predicting what unfolded in London. To rectify the issue, Greenwood has encouraged Borthwick to select a “proper No.8”.
The 22-year-old Chiefs star was one of three uncapped players selected in England’s Six Nations squad, arriving in camp off the back of the kind of form that made him impossible to ignore despite England’s burgeoning back-row options.
Speaking on the Rugby Mates podcast, the 2003 World Cup winner made this suggestion, but questioned what path Borthwick would take as he desperately searches for a win – backing the players he knows or going for something new.
“I think Greg Fisilau has to come in at No.8,” he said. “We saw Doris, we’ve seen Jelonch, we’ve seen Wainwright, we’ve seen Cannone, we’ve seen proper No.8s over the course of a weekend.
“Pollock was ok, but I’ve always talked about rugby being the celebration of difference, not going to change there – at the moment we’re too samey in our back-row. Three players who do similar things. By the way, they’re all supposed to be No.7s and we got one turnover.
“There’s no doubt Tom Willis would be playing, but he’s not available. If you look at the calibre of No.8s doing a No.8’s job – I don’t want No.8s in the wide channels, I don’t want you five metres either side of the posts. Say ‘operate in there, just own that space, just boss it’. Doris deviated and went slightly into the outside channels, but his entire game, not just trucking it up but offloading. That’s what I want my No.8 to do.
“Under pressure, Farrell went to his guys that have delivered. Borthwick is now in a hole, and he needs to find a win. Does he go with the guys who have given him 12 wins but have lost the last two or does he go ‘I need to change and bring people in’? You’d like to think we would change it, but it’s easy for us to say.”
