On Monday 19th December 2022, after weeks of rumours, the news was finally confirmed first by Leicester Tigers, then the RFU 30 minutes later. Steve Borthwick will be the successor to Eddie Jones as head coach of the men’s England side, less than 10 months away from the World Cup in France.
After turning around a joke of a Leicester team sitting in 11th in 2020 to win the Premiership Final in 2022, Borthwick has been hailed as the answer the men’s side needs after a strange post World Cup cycle of mediocrity and uninspiring performances culminating in a year where England only won 5 matches out of 12 (13 if you include the unofficial Barbarians fixture) leading to Eddie Jones being sacked by the RFU.
Now after forking out £1 million to buy out both Borthwick and defence coach ‘Super Kev’ Kevin Sinfield from Leicester, there’s much excitement and intrigue in the press as to how 2023 will unfold for England. Some think that this is a grand new era, completely different from Jones’. Indeed, the RFU CEO Bill Sweeney declared this was the “launch of a new age of England rugby”.
Except, people forget that Borthwick was Jones’ right-hand man as his forwards coach for first Japan from 2012-2015 and then at England from 2016-2020. Both men love what I would describe as ‘control-based rugby’, with an emphasis on tactical kicking, set-piece and defence to win games.
Jones was often criticised for seemingly random curveball selections and playing players out of position, with second rows on the blindside, wingers at outside centre and vice versa. Borthwick is also no stranger to this. Especially at the beginning of his tenure as head coach at Leicester, team selections were random as Borthwick tried to experiment to see what his players were capable of, flyhalves at fullback and scrumhalves at wing were a common sight initially.
However, Borthwick rarely failed to pick on form, whereas this was Eddie Jones’ greatest weakness in my opinion, picking players out of form or barely fit to supposedly suit his game plan. England has, alongside with France and New Zealand, the best talent pools in World Rugby and I have faith Borthwick will fare better than his old superior at picking on form.
The attack, which has come under a lot of criticism for its lack of efficacy rather than for its style, is an obvious work-on for Borthwick. At Leicester, attack was under the remit of then player-coach Richard Wigglesworth and flyhalf George Ford. The loss of Ford to Sale and the lack of an out-and-out attack coach has seen Leicester struggle to kick on this season. Borthwick will go back to basics, England’s set-piece really struggled in the autumn so that will be a priority as well as defence. I could even see Borthwick retaining the fluctuating attacking structure that Jones was hypothesised to be implementing but attack has never been Borthwick’s priority before, and with time against him he can be forgiven for focusing on other areas for the time being.
Nonetheless, I question whether there will be a fundamental difference in selection. BBC Sport’s Matt Dawson suggested that this could be the end of Owen Farrell’s England career – I think this is more in hope than in expectation. Yes, Marcus Smith has developed into a mature flyhalf in 2022, demonstrating he has both the individual magic and the control to put his team into winning positions, but I think it is premature to say that this is the end of Farrell. However, I would say his days as captain are numbered. Ellis Genge, Borthwick’s title-winning Captain at Leicester before moving back to Bristol, is the obvious choice to replace him. Whilst I could see the triumphant return of Dan Cole to the set-up after a three year international absence, as well as the return of form centres Elliot Daly and Ollie Lawrence, I don’t see the core of the England team changing hugely. There will be tinkering, of course, and significant tinkering at that. The EPS will largely stay the same but I think Borthwick will be selecting different matchday squads from his predecessor.
One of the reasons why Jones had to go (even though he really should have gone after 2019, but that’s a debate for another time) is that there was a complete disconnect between the team and the fans. This is something that I think Borthwick can achieve in the short-term, even if the playing style is not that different. Although the pandemic meant that there were no crowds at Mattioli Woods Welford Road until June 2021, the way in which Borthwick and Leicester as a whole were able to reconnect with the fans was remarkable, and the famous roaring crowds of yesteryear returned in force when full attendances were permitted again in September 2021.
Meanwhile, I have felt general apathy with England since they lost to France in the opening game of the 2020 Six Nations, even when they have won games I have felt disillusioned with the team, and I know I’m not alone in thinking this. I have faith that a re-fired England side under Borthwick can help build a genuine connection with fans, and bring new ones in as well.
This isn’t the first time that there has been a new head coach for the England men less than a year out of the World Cup, ironically both times the World Cup was to be in France. Brian Ashton galvanised a shocking England side in 2007, brought back some of the old guns, and on guts, defence and an all-conquering scrum England recovered from a poor opening defeat to reach the final and was a controversial TMO call away from pushing the Springboks all way (Mark Cueto was not in touch!).
Borthwick did something similar at Leicester, arguably more successful than Ashton, experienced veterans guiding a core group of exciting young players. In his deputy, Kevin Sinfield, you have perhaps the most inspiring man in both codes as your defence coach. There’s much work to be done, and whilst I don’t think there will be huge changes from Eddie Jones, a unrelenting set-piece, selection based on form and no antics and mind games with the media and players could be enough to at least restore faith and belief from both the team themselves and the fans from now and the World Cup in France next September.