Steve Borthwick identifies the one key England weakness that will require a ‘big development project’
England head coach Steve Borthwick in 2024
England head coach Steve Borthwick has admitted they have a big issue up front and that they will work hard to rectify it.
The Red Rose completed their mid-year series on Saturday, going down to a 2-0 defeat to New Zealand following a 24-17 reversal at Eden Park.
It was an ultimately positive tour from Borthwick’s men, despite successive narrow losses to the All Blacks, as they built on an improved Six Nations.
Much of their game seems to be in fine working order but there is one area which is particularly concerning the head coach.
England very much struggled in the scrum and Borthwick realises that the squad needs more depth at tighthead.
‘England pack has changed’
“The England pack has changed from what was traditionally a very big powerful pack to more of a younger, dynamic pack. Clearly we have got to develop at tighthead,” he said.
“As we look forward, that’s one area we have got to look at. You saw yesterday that the scrum was under pressure so that’s an area we have to improve.”
England’s issues are perhaps demonstrated by the fact that 37-year-old Dan Cole remains a key part of the squad.
Will Stuart started the two matches in New Zealand but he has yet to dominate at Test level and struggled against All Blacks loosehead Ethan de Groot in the set-piece.
Elsewhere, Joe Heyes has been involved in several England training squads but the Leicester Tigers prop has not done enough to convince the head coach that he should get an extended run in the 23.
“Will Stuart has done really well in the last couple of Test matches. The New Zealand scrum is very good and outside the scrum I thought he did many things very well,” Borthwick said.
“Part of my next step is to do that kind of planning and decide on the right thing to do. We need results now and we need to be preparing for several years in advance.
“But quite clearly we need to find some more tightheads. If you look at the loosehead side and the people who weren’t here… Ellis Genge, Beno Obano, Joe Marler missed the last Test, Fin Baxter, Bevan Rodd – we’ve got competition.
“We won’t quite have that on the other side of the scrum. That’s going to be a big development project for myself and (scrum coach) Tom Harrison.”
Cole’s future and other options
Cole became England’s most-capped men’s prop on Saturday when he overtook Jason Leonard’s record by coming on in the second period.
He continues to be a reliable player for the Red Rose, but at some point Borthwick will have to look to the future.
“I’ll have a conversation with Coley in due course and see what he wants to do,” the head coach added. “Dan knows how much I value him. His wife certainly knows how important he is to the team. I have had that conversation with her as well.”
Trevor Davison is probably next in line after a tremendous season for the title-winning Northampton Saints, while Sale Sharks’ James Harper and Exeter Chiefs’ Ehren Painter have the natural ability to put themselves in the Test reckoning.
There are also three outstanding young tightheads currently playing for the U20 team in South Africa with Asher Opoku-Fordjour, who plays both sides of the scrum, Billy Sella and Afolabi Fasogbon dominating the set-piece.
English rugby therefore has reasons to be optimistic but the supporters may have to wait a few years for that prop depth to truly improve.
