Steve Borthwick has taken a tough stance on his predecessors as England manager, suggesting that in the past a culture of fear of making mistakes had prevented players from being at their best at Test level.
The 44-year-old enjoyed a nine-year international career that saw him reach 57 caps from 2001 to 2010 under Clive Woodward, Andy Robinson, Brian Ashton and Martin Johnson, and then from 2016 to 2020. He served as an assistant coach under Eddie Jones.
He then achieved head coaching honors as coach of Premiership title-winning Leicester, and was appointed Test manager by Jones in December 2022.
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Saturday’s game in Rome was Borthwick’s 17th managerial match, and although England’s 27-24 win was far from pretty, Borthwick gave his best to the players in his post-match debrief. I supported.
His long-term hope is for England to develop a game plan that strikes fear into top teams around the world, and he does not intend to adopt a culture of fear within the squad with no margin for error in order to achieve that success. he claimed.
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Instead, he wants his players to be able to do their best when expressing themselves on the pitch without fear of being whipped from the sidelines.
When asked about the confidence players are taking on risks under his watch, he explained: For a long time, players have felt the possibility of making a mistake and the consequences of that as a player, and it’s something they’ve felt in their long-term England squads as well.
“I’ve seen players I’ve played with and teams I’ve been part of who weren’t able to give their all on the pitch because they were afraid of making mistakes. What we have is this group of players is determined to do well and they have an incredible skill level, and we’re going to make mistakes.
“I want more from you guys because this is a new team and I have the players understanding that we are going to learn from them and keep getting better. I want you to try, I want you to play to your strengths, whatever they are, on the pitch, and we will try to alleviate that concern, that concern that has been in the team for a while. I will try to do so.
“This is my personal experience of watching the players play for England. I want them to grow even more when they put on the white shirt. I want them to become even better and stronger than before. I want to wear a white shirt.”
This is a topic taken up by new captain Jamie George, who revealed that he had discussed this very topic with Borthwick last month. When asked about this supposed culture of fear of being wrong, he said, “It certainly used to be that way.”
“When Steve and I met a few weeks ago, we were talking about it. I don’t think it’s necessarily a risk. It’s about having the courage to execute your game plan as best you can. .
“Maybe that’s what we’re talking about and we’re very fortunate to have a coaching that understands very clearly how we pursue things as players. Having the staff means we have the courage to do it.
“Sometimes the pressure is at the highest level and you just want to sit back and worry about making sure you don’t make a mistake, as you have in the past.
“The most pleasing thing (against Italy) was that we were cut a few times in the first half. Did it affect the line speed in any way? Absolutely not. We had the courage to chase them again. Ta.”