If anyone is letting Borthwick down, it’s us – Earl

England’s Ben Earl has defended Steve Borthwick’s record as head coach following their defeat by Italy and claimed that “large parts of their performance were brilliant”.

England slumped to a 23-18 loss in Rome – their first ever against Italy in 33 matches – and face the prospect of their worst finish in the Six Nations.

They need to beat title-chasing France in Paris on Saturday to avoid finishing the championship with a record four defeats from five games.

With pressure mounting on Borthwick after three dismal defeats, the Rugby Football Union issued a statement of support on Sunday morning.

England number eight Earl also backed his head coach, saying the players should be held responsible for the team’s alarming form.

“Just have a think about what this team’s achieved since Steve took over. We’ve gone third in the World Cup,” said Earl.

“We’ve won 12 out of 15 games, but had won 12 on the bounce. We’ve beaten the All Blacks for the first time in Twickenham since 2012.

“The noise is actually bonkers, I think it’s crazy. If anyone is letting Steve down, it’s us, the group.

England led 18-10 heading into the final quarter but once again fell apart as they crashed to another woeful defeat.

However, Earl, who won his 50th cap on Saturday, believes there was plenty to admire in Rome.

“There’s an element of pride really because I actually thought we played pretty well,” said the Saracens number eight.

“There was a moment in that game I thought there was only one team that was going to win.

“If that game ended at 60 minutes, you’d say that was an unbelievable performance by England, but unfortunately the result didn’t go our way.

England have lost their way in remarkable fashion after an opening win over Wales but Earl believes the team are learning from every defeat.

“Italy are a very good team,” he said. “They’re going to go and beat some good teams.

“That doesn’t mean that we can’t improve, but I thought there were large parts of that performance that were brilliant.

“It was a performance where we brought the gameplan to life and Italy won a couple of moments in the last 20 minutes to win the game. That’s Test match rugby. That’s another lesson for us.