Steve Borthwick ‘confident’ he has ‘absolute support’ from RFU as sack talk gathers momentum
Steve Borthwick watching England in the 2024 Autumn Nations Series
England head coach Steve Borthwick insists he has the full support of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), despite speculation circling around his future following yet another defeat.
Pressure has been seemingly growing every week this autumn, with England on a rotten run of five-straight losses and at the time of writing sit seventh in the world rankings.
Borthwick has ‘absolute support’ of RFU
Speaking to the media after Saturday’s loss to South Africa, Borthwick said he remains “confident” his team are moving in the right direction, despite this torrid run of form.
“I’m very confident we’re on the right path,” he said. “I’m working with a great group of coaches and players, I’m very confident that we’re on a trajectory where we’re moving along.”
He added: “We want things to happen now, they’re not happening now, but we’re aiming to put in a better performance against Japan next week.”
When asked whether he feels he has the support of the RFU higher-ups, he insisted he gets the feeling everyone is still behind him and his team.
“I’m not going to talk about private conversations, but what’s more important is the feeling that I get, and the feeling that I get from the RFU is absolute support and absolute belief that this team is going in the right direction. That’s the feeling I get from everyone at the RFU,” he said.
“We will do everything we possibly can”
England now head into a make-or-break clash with Japan, and captain Jamie George echoed the comments of Borthwick that they will be “a significantly better team” next Sunday.
“I couldn’t agree more (with Steve),” he said. “Like Steve alluded to, we are disappointed with the results. We wanted to give the England fans three wins from three, of course we did, and if you look at the three Test matches individually there are definitely things that we needed to be better at.
“I have every confidence and belief in the players and the staff that we will do everything we possibly can to be a significantly better team both next weekend and looking ahead to the Six Nations.”
England’s issue in recent fixtures has been closing games out. They led in all five of these recent defeats, but against South Africa failed to register a single point in the final quarter.
Commenting on this, George said his side need to “find the fixes” for this, but was also quick to highlight the positives they can take from the defeat to the world champions.
“I was really proud of the team in terms of the way we fronted up physically,” he said. “Test match rugby is a game of really fine margins, and we created a lot of opportunities against a world-class team.”
“You speak to them (the Springboks) after the game, and they were saying they felt really under pressure and felt the physicality of the game; and I think that’s the sign of a good team, but we just need to find the fixes to closing out these games.”
The game next weekend also holds some serious significance, with former boss Eddie Jones taking charge of his first game against England since his sacking in 2022.
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