LONG READ How England's new coaches are giving Steve Borthwick food for thought

It was easy, amid the focus on the Lions, to have overlooked the scale of England’s achievement in defeating Argentina 35-12 in La Plata on Saturday.

The Pumas, lest we forget, had beaten the self-same Lions in Dublin a fortnight previously. Overturning them so comprehensively on their own soil was right up there in the quality of the performance with pretty much anything seen during Steve Borthwick’s time.

In the absence of the Lions contingent it was a case of opportunities offered and opportunities emphatically taken. The two Toms, Willis and Roebuck, Fin Baxter and Seb Atkinson – on debut – all seized the moment, guided wisely by the old hands George Ford and Jamie George.

It wasn’t just the players though. For the stand-in coaches brought in by Borthwick for the trip, England’s display represented a huge tick in the box.

The Argentina tour has brought chances for coaches from outside the national set-up in the past. In 2013, with Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell on duty in Australia, England head coach Stuart Lancaster took Rob Baxter and Paul Gustard. In 2017 Eddie Jones, without his then-forwards coach Borthwick, expanded scrum guru Neal Hatley’s portfolio and brought along Sam Vesty as his skills coach.

This time with Richard Wigglesworth required by the Lions, Borthwick has called in Lee Blackett, from the champions Bath, and Byron McGuigan from Sale. The first Test was a great start for both of them with England.

There was a danger with Johann van Graan, judging by his dreary game plan at Munster, Bath could be overly predictable, but Blackett has proved an excellent counter-weight.

There was a precision to England’s second-half strikes Blackett must have been delighted with as attack coach. There was a flintiness and ferocity to the defence too, which reflected well on McGuigan.

The 35-year-old South Africa-born former Scotland wing is relatively new to top-level coaching having only taken over as defence coach at Sale in November but ‘The Horse’ is already highly regarded in the northwest.

The appointment of Borthwick’s close friend Joe El Abd as defence coach ahead of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series while he was still serving as Oyonnax’s director of rugby was a strange one and there were teething troubles in his first campaign. While those seemed to smooth themselves out during the Six Nations as England settled into a less aggressive set-up, it was interesting Borthwick should choose McGuigan, a coach wedded to a more in-your-face style, to Argentina as well.

He has been brought in officially to work under El Abd but the first Test rearguard looked to have the more urgent Sale stamp on it and the change-up paid dividends. The increased speed off the line unnerved Argentina’s attack. Intent before detail is the Sharks’ defensive mantra and to keep the Pumas down to two tries, even with England were down to 13 men at one point, was a triumph of mindset.

Blackett, who cut his teeth as the Premiership’s youngest head coach at Rotherham in 2013, has been around a little longer, growing his reputation with each step.

He joined Wasps in 2015 and had terrific fun with their backline riches as attack coach and then head coach. The club’s collapse led to a move to the Scarlets where he again made a positive impression in his short stay, helping them to the Challenge Cup semi-finals before being snapped up by Bath.

The coaching collective is its own little team above the team and just as with the playing unit, the blend within it is all-important.

There was a danger with Johann van Graan, judging by his dreary game plan at Munster, Bath could be overly predictable, but Blackett has proved an excellent counter-weight.

Called up to coach England A against Australia and Ireland last season, he was a natural next cab off the rank in Wigglesworth’s absence.

Rec regulars will have noticed Blackett’s fingerprints on some of the first phase variations England employed to such deadly effect at the weekend.

Each week is a different challenge and now they have seen England’s hand, a stung Argentina will no doubt hit back hard this weekend but as beginnings go, La Plata was pretty much perfect for Blackett and McGuigan.

Touring the Americas with England is on the face of it a great summer gig, but it isn’t a straightforward task for an assistant coach to come in at international level for a brief window. Like a supply teacher in the classroom, players can smell uncertainty in a new coach a mile off so they need to show self-confidence even though they might be learning on the job themselves at an elevated level. At the same time, they have to be careful not to be so desperate to command the room they tread on toes and undermine the established harmony within the coaching group.

It takes a while in any rugby environment to understand the dynamics; when to step up and when to hang back. The coaching collective is its own little team above the team and just as with the playing unit, the blend within it is all-important.

One of the underplayed aspects of England’s run to the 2019 World Cup final was the mix Eddie Jones assembled for Japan. He was such a demanding head coach to work for there was a high turnover amongst his assistants but for a year he had it just about spot on.

Borthwick provided the forensic detail, the Australian Scott Wisemantel, the energy and creativity as attack coach and the Kiwi John Mitchell an off-the-wall, been-around-the-block street wisdom as defence coach. They were all very different characters but somehow the jigsaw seemed to fit together. When that gang broke up after the tournament, Jones was never able to hit upon the same formula again.

The churn was never going to be as great under a steadier figure such as Borthwick, but there has still been a fair amount of change as he has gone along. Some of it has been planned, some of it not – as in the cases of the abrupt departures of defence coach Felix Jones, now back with South Africa, and strength and conditioning coach Aled Walters, now at Ireland and with the Lions in Australia.

Wigglesworth is first amongst equals in Borthwick’s backroom staff, the coach credited with evolving England’s game during the back end of the Six Nations and he will be back in position post-Lions.

Too many cooks can spoil the broth but if the second Test goes as well this weekend Borthwick will have some additional food for thought over what England’s ideal coaching blend might look like building towards the World Cup in two years’ time.