Pressure of representing England has shown – Borthwick

Steve Borthwick believes the expectation, scrutiny and pressure of playing for England has got to his players during their three-match losing run.

After winning 11 matches in a row coming into the Six Nations, defeats by Scotland, Ireland and Italy have wrecked any possibility of an England title bid.

“I think that the England shirt can, at times, weigh heavy,” Borthwick told Rugby Union Weekly.

“We’ve worked exceptionally hard to try and alleviate that.

“I want the players to play fast rugby, I want the ball to move, I want them to be brave and I talk about playing brave and playing big and with the shirt on.

“I think certainly I’ve seen evidence in the last two or three weeks, that there’s been times where the shirt looks like it’s weighed a bit heavy.

The pressure of expectation is a problem Borthwick has identified before in his three-year reign as head coach.

He spoke of “the weight of the shirt” hampering England in their 30-21 defeat by Scotland in the 2024 Six Nations, but believed by the end of the tournament, after beating Ireland and running France close in Lyon, that it was beginning to lift.

Former England scrum-half Danny Care played in all five of England’s fixtures in that campaign and can vouch for how transformative confidence – or the lack of it – can be.

“England just look like a team bereft of confidence at the minute,” he told Rugby Union Weekly.

“Confidence in sport is like a superpower. When you are in teams that have it, you see everything so much clearer, it is like watching in HD rather than a picture from 25 years ago.

“The gaps seem a little wider, you see opportunities clearer and you back yourself. You are braver.

Care believes that England’s problems are tactical as well as psychological however, saying he is “sick” of England’s scrum-halves not running with the ball to test the fringe defence.

Others have questioned whether England’s reliance on contestable kicks to earn territory has been worked out by opponents.

Borthwick does not believe that England’s current slump merits a major tactical changes however.

While England have scored 14 tries so far in the tournament, having registered 21 from the same fixtures last year, they have created plenty of platforms from which to attack.

“I respect there’s lots of discussion around our tactical plans – when you look at the end point, look at the result and you the number of tries scored, that’s completely understandable,” said Borthwick

“I think it’s more about improving that incisiveness with our attack and getting over the try line rather than necessarily any major overhaul.

“You have an overview, a structure of ‘this is how we want to approach the different aspects of the game’, and then talk about the players bringing their points of difference.”

The day after defeat by Italy in Rome on Saturday, Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney released a statement backing Borthwick, saying he was confident that the coach and his staff would “do everything they can to deliver”.

Borthwick says that he speaks with Sweeney “at least once or twice a week” and Conor O’Shea, the RFU’s director of performance rugby, “pretty much on a daily basis”.

“Ever since I started this role back in late 2022, we have always worked very, very closely together,” Borthwick added.

“I think that I’ve always been very clear on the vision of the team, initially going very quickly into that 2023 Rugby World Cup which was just around the corner, and ever since then building through each of these competition windows since.

“We are all disappointed and frustrated.