"He is Disappointed and Frustrated" – 5 Talking Points: Steve Borthwick's England team to play Australia

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Steve Borthwick has shown his hand early for England’s upcoming Autumn Nations Series match against Australia, by naming his team this afternoon at Pennyhill Park. Borthwick has not made any changes to personnel in his starting XV, yet the head coach has made some positional alterations for the battle with the Wallabies.

Borthwick has also called in Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Sleightholme to the match day 23, with the two replacements set for their first taste of Test match action this Autumn. England last took on the Wallabies in 2022, in what was the Summer tour that has been best remembered as Marcus Smith’s breakthrough. England claimed a 2-1 win in the series, after losing the opening fixture in Perth, before claiming back-to-back wins in Brisbane and Sydney.

England’s most famous win over Australia has to be the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final, with the image of Jonny Wilkinson slotting the match winning drop goal embedded in the hearts and minds of England fans.

The hosts have had an impressive run of success against the Wallabies, with Australia winning just twice in their last 12 meetings, dating back to the 2015 Rugby World Cup pool stage. Steve Borthwick spoke to the reporting media this afternoon, and addressed the key areas of his squad, after penning in his match day 23 for this Saturday’s clash with the Wallabies. Here are the five biggest talking points.

5. Borthwick reviews the dramatic end of All Blacks defeat and George Ford’s miss

Borthwick rounded off the media session by giving his thoughts to what went wrong, as George Ford missed the crucial drop kick that would have won Saturday’s match. Ford sent his last-ditch drop goal wide of the Allianz uprights, with the All Blacks holding on to the opening Autumn win by the narrowest of margins.

“I don’t think we gave him the best platform. I know we didn’t give him the best platform, and we’re disappointed in that now. So what it means again, is we can review that. 

"Whilst we’ve talked about it, we’ve gone through in training many times, put them in the scenario, a very similar scenario. Twice last week, we’re in a very similar scenario to the one that actually was had played out at the end."

“If you look at that start, if you look at that again, that series, where it starts from is the scrum. "And so what do you want to do is, if you’ve got a scrum under the opposition posts, and you’re losing by two points, then you’ve got to scrum to set up, and it’s a great scrum that gets the ball out to ensure that you have a great target. 

"To then set, to do what you wish to do, and puts the pressure upon the opposition.  Ultimately, they put pressure upon our scrum ball, which then eventually led to George being put under pressure. 

"We didn’t give George the platform he was required to do. So that’s a frustration. It’ll be something we’ll do better in the future.”

"George is a player with 97 caps, he has seen a lot, he has been through a lot and he understands it was a width of a post. He did so much that was really excellent on Saturday in that final 20.

"He (George Ford) is disappointed and frustrated. The emotion of the whole squad has been one of disappointment and one of frustration, but he has been terrific. He has been a model of how you handle that disappointment to the other players. He is 'we have got to get better' and we will.

2. No players changed from the starting XVfor Australia Test

Borthwick continues to reiterate his mantra of consistency being key, with no changes made to the names set to run out in his starting XV. Whilst there has been swaps in the centres and new names on the bench, the sailing remains plane for Borthwick as he gets set to navigate the second match of the Autumn Series.

“Continuity and cohesion is a really important aspect for us as we develop the relationships between the players.” Borthwick said.

“There were lots of positives in the performance. We are obviously disappointed and frustrated with the result. But I thought there were lots of positives and we want to continue to build on that.”

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