Woodward on the selection call he's sure 'Borthwick will be regretting'

World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward has said that he ‘is sure’ that Steve Borthwick will be regretting his back-row selection calls after England’s latest red card.

Borthwick is sweating on the availability of two key players ahead of the tournament in France after Billy Vunipola’s red card in Dublin compounded Owen Farrell’s disciplinary saga.

England struggled to convince with 15 men at the Aviva Stadium before Vunipola’s 53rd-minute dismissal for ploughing into the head of Andrew Porter helped the world’s top-ranked team cruise to a 29-10 success.

England should discover the fates of Saracens pair Vunipola and Farrell before hosting Fiji at Twickenham next weekend, with their World Cup campaign set to begin against Argentina on September 9.

Writing in his Daily Mail column, Woodward lambasted the performance but more pointedly focused on Borthwick’s decision not to select Harlequins No.8 Alex Dombrandt.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I’m sure Steve Borthwick will be regretting his decision to leave out Alex Dombrandt from his 33-man World Cup party.

“Ben Earl and Lewis Ludlam can play at the back of the scrum, but they are not specialists there. Still, it is likely one of them will now have to step in and in a big game against Argentina.”

While Woodward has suggested Dombrandt as the next cab off the ranl at No.8, others have thrown Zach Mercer name back into the ring. Former England 10 Andy Goode Tweeted: “Zach Mercer anyone?”

Zach Mercer anyone?

— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) August 19, 2023

Influential fly-half Farrell was free to feature in the warm-up game but was ultimately left out following World Rugby’s appeal against the decision to overturn the red card he received in last weekend’s win over Wales.

With England’s World Cup opener against Argentina on September 9 fast approaching, Borthwick faces potentially being without two of his key men through suspension for the start of the tournament in France.

He was tight-lipped on Vunipola’s tackle, but is eager for matters to be concluded quickly on the back of the disruption already caused by the ongoing Farrell saga.

“I’m not going to comment upon the incident specifically because it goes into a disciplinary process this coming week,” said Borthwick.

“Probably as every England fan, I feel disappointment in the game today and I said beforehand we want 15 players on the pitch for 80 minutes of every game.

“You’re playing the number one ranked side in the world in their stadium and to go to 14 men it becomes a very difficult task at that point in time.

“Hopefully we will find a conclusion on both matters this week and it won’t go into another week. Once I have all the facts, I will deal with them.

“We talked about the way this Test week was disrupted (by the Farrell situation) and I need to adapt throughout the week. It’s another challenge that’s been thrown at us.”

additional reporting PA