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'Very pleased': The Steve Borthwick reaction to England pipping Italy
Steve Borthwick has described himself as “very pleased” with his England team despite their hugely unimpressive 27-24 win over Italy in Rome.
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The English went into their opening round Guinness Six Nations game with fans expecting them to impressively build on their bronze medal finish at the recent Rugby World Cup.
However, they endured a poor start, trailing 0-10 and 8-17 during a first half that ended with them losing 14-17. It was only when Alex Mitchell struck for a try five minutes into the second half that England finally managed to hit the front.
They went on to pull 27-17 clear but rather than motoring on to secure a four-try bonus win, they instead allowed Italy to strike for their third try in the fifth minute of added time and clinch a losing bonus point.
Nevertheless, the scrappy win was a first for England at the start of the Six Nations since 2019 and Borthwick was keen to dwell on the positives post-game rather than admit the performance wasn’t up to the required standard against an opposition they have never lost to at Test level.
Attack 
146
Passes
153
98
Ball Carries
119
219m
Post Contact Metres
244m
6
Line Breaks
4
“Very pleased with the result and very pleased with the players, they found a way to change the game at the mid-point of the game and found a way to get a result,” enthused the head coach.
“There were areas that we improved upon from where we have been and were trying to work on in the preparation period that we had. It was brilliant to see five players make their debut for England in one matchday in the Six Nations, which doesn’t happen very often.
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“Having said that, there were plenty of areas we need to be better at. We gave Italy scores too easily and we need to improve our defence.
“In that first half, while we had lots of possession in the attacking half and the speed of our ball was much quicker and the ball movement was improved, we didn’t break the line as much as we wanted to.”
The debut-making back-rower Ethan Roots was deemed to be the official player of the match, but fellow rookie Fraser Dingwall had his issues in defence on an afternoon where Chandler Cunningham-South, Fin Smith and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso earned their first caps off the bench.
“You don’t want to single individuals out. It’s a special day for all five of them and a special day for me to be involved with them at the start of their England careers,” said Borthwick when asked for his assessment of his rookie roster.
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“Just chatting to them in the changing rooms, they are going to be wearing the England shirt for a long time… I think Ethan Roots looked very much at home. He was outstanding.
“And for Fraser in the centres, when you have got a different combination – and this is one of the challenges of playing in the centre having never played with that 10 and that 13 before – I thought he did really well to help glue that combination together.
“The ball movement improved a lot,” he added when asked what helped England to engineer comeback win. “The midfield showed that they can move these balls to the edges a lot and there was some improved areas we felt we had signs of an advantage but we weren’t playing to those areas enough.
“So I asked the players to place greater emphasis on those areas and with Jamie George’s leadership everyone did. That then led to that third-quarter being very strong for us.
“This group is so keen to run hard and train hard. That has been like every day. It has been a pleasure to coach this group and they are going to improve fast because they are so keen to learn. We’ll learn fast from today.”
England endured an injury-hit build-up to the tournament before and during their warm-weather preparation camp in Girona, and those problems were added to by the late withdrawal of Ellis Genge with a foot injury which resulted in Beno Obano becoming the replacement loosehead.
Borthwick reckoned Genge would be fit for selection for Wales, a match that the currently absent George Martin could also be available for following his injury issue. “I would be really hopeful Ellis will be available for next weekend.
“He trained on Thursday, felt something, was scanned Friday morning and it’s a small recurrence of something that happened in the past.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Should be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
68 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
2 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real speech. They claim free speech. The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
68 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
2 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to commentslooking forward to RWC2027 …. Boks on mission impossible for the Three-in-a-row, ABs to prove they being on par, France wishing to crown the “DuPont-era”, Ireland knocking on the Semi-Door ….. until then we’ll probably have to deal with Weird Ben’s fantasy-RWC23 (fun fact is, the drivel always creates a flooding of comments) …..
221 Go to commentsBen Smith you really make some good points in this article, the Springboks were not close to perfect and good still beat the All Blacks, imagine if they were as good as they were against France what a hiding the All Blacks would have gotten… maybe another Twickenham drubbing
221 Go to commentsIt is a good argument to keep the Rebels for one more year but also isnt this just opening the door as well for keeping them beyond 2025. If they can create some sort of financial stability in the next year and if their performances lift as they have this season then how would RA even cull them after that? It might be the most cost effective decision at this stage and perhaps many people are guilty of keeping relationships going because of the cost to decouple but then again when does that ever work out well?
29 Go to commentsDear Ben Smith you are a genius! God please become the next all blacks coach that can take on the mighty BOKS. Your rugby acumen is second to none - imagine your dads sperm bounced as unfortunately as that oval ball did….we would not be blessed with your presence. Just as the all blacks were missing a man you too are missing a chromosome for 80% of your life, so your insights are not only profound but ring true from your own experiences. Just as the TMO interfered with citing an illegal pass I am sure your local authorities interfere with your illegal passes you make on women - How dare they!!! God forbid that rugby be officiated fairly. You are the right man for the job. Next all blacks coach is here ladies and gentlemen Miss Ben Smith (He/She/They/IT)
221 Go to commentsHuge engine this guy and great to see him back ..The amount of clean outs he does at the ruck are ridiculous !!
3 Go to commentsThe level of desperation in this article is just embarrassing.
221 Go to commentsSome silly trolling in the comments.
9 Go to commentsEverywhere you turn some irish journo is advocating Ireland as the greatest, reasoning that the wc is a 4 year cycle event so, they say wc doesn’t matter it’s the rugby in between that should account for the accolade. If there was no wc then some substance could be gained, however in my opinion the moment that defined Ireland’s fate against the abs was 37 phases of repeated head bashing against a brick wall. If a change in strategy or a tinker with the game plan was executed then things could've been vastly different. And to point a finger the let down was in the hands of the number 10.
68 Go to commentsI have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.
29 Go to comments