"Underlying Frustration" – Jack van Poortvleit: England scrum half wants to 'turn it around' with Autumn win against Japan
Yesterday at 08:06 AM
Jack van Poortvleit is fully backing England to end their Autumn Nations Series on a high, as they take on Japan this Sunday at the Allianz Stadium. The scrum half lifted the lid as he addressed the ‘underlying frustration’ that is simmering amongst the England camp, after three consecutive defeats in the November series.
“There were a lot of good things in there but, obviously, there is underlying frustration of not getting it over the line again and not getting the result we wanted.”
"Over the last few weeks we have been in positions to win the games but there have been small little things each week, different things we have got to learn from and be better. It is on us as players, we are in that position to go and get and get a result and turn it around.
“We are going to keep learning, keep getting better and keep pushing but obviously the underlying bit is frustration now. There are almost small different lessons each week. I am not sure it is the cohesion, I feel like we are a close group that is progressing but we will push on fix those errors.”
After missing out on the first two rounds of the Autumn campaign, van Poortvleit was selected to start in the nine jersey as England battled the Springboks this past weekend. One area of JVP’s game that was under attack was his box kicks, as the likes of Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit routinely charged down the exit strategy, with the blocking significant in the build up to du Toit’s first half try.
"On that (box kick charge downs), it was obviously something they might have spotted and probably something that is inconsistently looked at.” Van Poortvleit explained. “For me it is a massive learning and I was pleased with the way I kept sticking at it, because it was part of the game plan, and we got a lot of pay when we got it right. It is a big learning for me, gutting it had an effect in the try, it is tough but these situations will make me better and make the team better I am sure.”
The Leicester Tigers halfback then addressed how the recent run of defeats should not rest upon the shoulders of his head coach Steve Borthwick. Echoing what Freddie Steward said in a recent interview, van Poortvleit looked back to his time at the Tigers with Borthwick, and explained how it the head coach turns the team around after a hard-fought defeat.
Van Poortvleit spoke on experience of the 2021/22 Premiership season, which saw the Tigers suffer a slow start to the campaign, before going on the lift the silverware at the end of the year.
"The experience I had with him at Leicester, the first year we were building the base and putting in the ground work and we kept improving. The big thing for Steve is, we obviously want the results, and we go out there week on week looking for results but we have things we can look at, seeing our progression and if we are not hitting it, he addresses it and we get better at it.
"He is good in these situations. He will tell us when we need to change some bits when we are not doing it right but he will also make us aware we are on a journey together and there are going to be some tough bits at times and we are going to have to pull together as a group, stay tight, and keep learning.
"Sometimes he addresses stuff we need to improve but most of the time, all the time, he is telling us in a calm clear way at half time today we had clear objectives on what we get out of it and we go into games so clear in what we need to do. So he has been brilliant in these situations.”
Van Poortvleit took a great deal of confidence from the Leicester Tigers turnaround, and he hopes to see Borthwick lead a similar charge in bouncing back from a string of five consecutive England defeats.
"Of course, we have seen it before. There are similarities and also differences. He is constantly improving as a coach and always looking at new ways of evolving. We owe it to ourselves and owe it to him to keep pushing and trying to deliver on the pitch for each other, the fans and for him and we are going to keep doing that."
