"There's evolution in attack" – Steve Borthwick: England head coach hopes team will click with Six Nations experience
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England head coach Steve Borthwick believes that his team is on the cusp of a bright future, following their recent performance in the opening round of the 2025 Six Nations. Experience and cohesion has been at the heart of the recent England discussions, after Borthwick’s side were defeated 27-22 by Ireland in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
However, a compelling first 40-minutes saw England lead at the half-time break, with a ninth minute try from debutante wing Cadan Murley helping his side build an early lead. England coupled this with Murley’s fellow Harlequin Marcus Smith adding extras from the tee for a 10-5 half-time advantage.
Find your local Greene King and settle in for the 2025 Six Nations!
The fire seemed sapped from England in the second half, as Ireland forged a solid comeback with 22 unanswered points. Borthwick’s men would then fire back for two late tries to make the score-line more respectable, with the head coach hopeful for what the added experience will bring going forward.
“There's no doubt when you're trying to build a team, building relationships and how often people play together is important.” Borthwick said in Dublin. “You contrast that with Ireland and how often they play together. With Leinster, you see the model they've gone with, that consistency.
“Defensively I think there were big improvements, I think that was pretty evident throughout, there were a couple of (missed) one-on-one tackles on edges and we've got to make those tackles. If you do that then suddenly the context of the game is little bit different. There's execution in attack, execution in defence and there's execution in the kicking game and in some key moments it was a little bit off where it needs to be to win these Test matches.”
Whilst no member of the England team was pleased with the score-line at the final whistle, Borthwick took confidence from his side’s continued push for cohesion, with another top tier Test match under the belts of his newer players in the squad. Whilst, Murley scored on his debut, Tom Willis picked up only his second Test cap, and the likes of Fin Smith and Chandler Cunningham-South continue their England careers a year on from their debuts in the opening round of the 2024 Six Nations.
“There is always that balance and I'll look at what we need next week against France. This group of players is building and is going to be a very, very good team. I trust this group of players. You can see just how hard they are working for each other and I thought that was a step forward today. Look at how hard they ran and the effort, I can see a team starting to develop amongst this group.”
“I was delighted that he (Murley) got the try and he was a real threat with ball in hand. That's what I asked him to do; to bring that on to the pitch. Looking at how they defended together, it's about combinations and spending time playing with each other. He did really, really positive things today and I'm sure he'll be better for the experience.”
France head to the Allianz Stadium for their first visit in two years this Saturday, with the last meeting in Twickenham between England and Les Bleus being an infamous one in the history of HQ. France racked up a 53-10 hammering over England in the 2023 Six Nations, with the result standing as the heaviest home defeat for England since records began. Despite the enormity of the last meeting, Borthwick is not taking the match into consideration for the week’s preparation.
“The context is very different. That was a Six Nations where I been appointed just before it, there was a World Cup just around the corner and we needed to try to build a team for it in a short space of time, so we had to look at different combinations. So, the context is very different.”
“Look at the way the players went out and attacked that game today (against Ireland); the way they work with the ball. The way we are trying to attack, we can cause teams problems. France are a very, very good defensive team, we know that and it was clear on Friday night. But we want to go out there next weekend and challenge them. We want to play quickly and you can see that we have pace on those edges and we can score tries.”
The defeat in Dublin was also the first official match at the helm of England for Maro Itoje, as the Saracens lock got his on-field captaincy underway in the Irish capital. Borthwick rounded off the discussion by piling the praise on his new skipper, whom he hopes to lead forward into a new era.
“Maro is a fantastic professional and his preparation has been first-class. I know there were questions about the added responsibility, but Maro was very deliberate (diligent?) in his preparations through the week. He has found that balance between what the team needs, as the captain, and what he needs as a player to move forward. He is very, very ambitious as a player as well as a leader and that kind of example is very positive for the squad.”
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