About an hour after the final whistle on Saturday, England’s victorious players still swigging from the Calcutta Cup, Steve Borthwick was deep inside Twickenham discussing how his players finally got their hands back on the trophy. He was justifying their route-one tactics, explaining why England showcased so little with ball in hand; essentially, why they seemed to revert to a tactical approach that wins matches but few admirers.
Borthwick was asked a perfectly reasonable question – was it the coaches’ decision to do so or the players adapting on the hoof in response to Scotland’s gameplan? – and he did not answer it properly. He was bristling, looking for hidden meaning in the question that just wasn’t there. He was asked it again and once more failed to provide an answer. Make no mistake, Borthwick cares a great deal about how his team are perceived. The boos sting, the derogatory implications of “Borthball” bother him.
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About an hour and a half earlier, the old stadium was groaning again. The Twickenham faithful can be notoriously hard to please – it costs a pretty penny to be there, after all – and as Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith hoisted the ball to the skies, boos and jeers rang out. Borthwick must feel as if he cannot win at times. There was no such booing two weeks earlier during another one-point victory, against France, yet the post-match statistics tell you Smith made more passes against Scotland than he did two weeks earlier.
Statistics can always be manipulated and by most metrics England were significantly less effective in attack against Scotland than they were against France. Just 79 carries for 474 metres on Saturday compared with 95 for 700m against Les Bleus, two line‑breaks compared with eight a fortnight previous and – of course – one try that arguably should not have been awarded, compared with four scored against France.
Which brings us back to the question Borthwick wouldn’t answer. Was it the intention to kick possession away from the outset, was it the coaches who decided to do so as the match was going on, or was it the players? “Under those circumstances where you spend a week prepping for something and scrapping to be in it at half‑time, then come in and have the messages change, it was good,” the prop Will Stuart said, hinting at the answer.
The closest Borthwick came to answering was to justify the approach rather than explain how it came about. “I’ve been very clear that I want the team to play with ball in hand, to attack with it, to be brave, aggressive with the ball, there is another team trying to stop you and they’re pretty good at it,” the head coach said.
“Ultimately they’re strong in defence, strong at the breakdown, and take the game to this kicking game. That leads to slow ball, and effectively they’re waiting for you to run the ball against their high double tackles, and then attack the breakdown. You’ve got to be very good and very judicious about when you go, and I thought the players did it well. It’s not necessarily how we want to play, but there were two teams out there and we found a way to win.”
It may not be pretty, but this has to be deemed a degree of progress. England have been accused regularly of lacking a plan B over the past 12 months, so successfully adapting to their opponents is a step forward. They have also been accused of defensive frailties and, while Scotland enjoyed plenty of joy out wide – Duhan van der Merwe running riot down the left in the first half – England’s scrambling was again impressive on Saturday. They made 187 tackles and it was their determination to work for each other that had Borthwick most pleased.
“I’d point out how hard the team run for each other, which is definitely something that’s developed,” he said. “I am a believer that you get back what you put in. I’m a believer that if you keep trying to do the right things, if you keep working hard you will get rewarded. It’s the way I was brought up, it’s the way I believe in. So that’s what we will continue to do. That’s part of my roots, part of my make-up. I’ve always believed in it. If you put in the hard work, you’ll get the reward.”
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Evidently, it is an area of the game the players relish. Listen to Ben Curry, who came on after 36 minutes and made a significant impact. “My personal view on defence is that it’s got to mean more than just tackling,” he said. “You’ve got to want to hit people. It’s an unnatural thing to put yourself in a dark place where it shouldn’t be. You’ve got to have a deeper reason to do that, especially in our defence.
“We want to try and tackle in twos – so it requires you to be on the same page as your mates. You don’t want to go in half-heartedly because you know your mate’s going in 100%, it’s like guilt. You know he’s flying in, I’m not going to let him down.”
That togetherness is, at present, the foundation of this England side but maybe what riles supporters is that they still do not know the team’s identity. Are they a side who, as Borthwick promises, want to be brave and attack with ball in hand? Are they a team who grind out results? Ultimately, fans are crying out for England to impose their gameplan emphatically on their opponents rather than hang in the fight and squeeze over the line and – though it seems unfair after two hard‑fought, overdue victories – they are growing impatient waiting for it.
