What Steve Borthwick told Matt Sherratt following Wales debacle

Matt Sherratt, the interim Wales head coach, has revealed how opposite number Steve Borthwick provided a crumb of comfort amid the wreckage of his side’s record home defeat.

Sherratt’s four-week reign came to an end in painful circumstances at the Principality Stadium as an English deluge came crashing down on his farewell parade.

The Cardiff boss maintains Wales possess the players to emerge from their current nightmare – with the right support – and for proof of that, Borthwick told Sherratt, they need only look at their celebrating opponents.

England’s 68-14 demolition of Wales briefly maintained their championship hopes, before France dismissed Scotland in Paris, at the end of a championship in which Borthwick and his team have faced criticism of their own.

Moreover, it is barely two years since England suffered their own home Six Nations mauling, losing 53-10 to France at Twickenham in Borthwick’s first championship in charge.

“I just spoke to Steve Borthwick on the field after and he said in his first Six Nations they lost to France, at Twickenham by 50 points,” Sherratt told reporters.

“He said he was devastated but he felt that the group needed it. It’s easy to say now, but there’s no point talking about learnings and that game in particular.

“There’s a reset going on there. There’s going to be a new director up, be a new head coach, and I think the next camp has to feel fresh for the players.”