Steve Borthwick has downplayed Eddie Jones’ suggestion that England are looking too far into the future to qualify for the Six Nations.
England have suffered back-to-back defeats against Scotland at Murrayfield and Ireland at Twickenham, putting them in a precarious position in the competition.
That prompted England boss Jones to revisit comments he made before the tournament when he targeted Borthwick in the title decider in his final game against France.
“In Paris on March 14, we want to get into the game where we can achieve what we all want to achieve,” Borthwick said in January.
speaking rugby unity Jones said on the podcast: “Let me go back to the beginning of the Six Nations. I think Steve made some very unusual comments looking ahead to the title decider against France. Steve is the most pragmatic and intelligent coach you will ever meet, but looking ahead for any team is fraught with risk.”
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Will Greenwood has criticized England’s performance in their 42-21 defeat against Ireland in the Six Nations.
Borthwick said Wednesday that he had not heard Jones’ comments.
“I think you know how much I respect Eddie Jones,” Borthwick said. Sky Sports News. “Obviously here in camp we’ve always been focused on the next game in front of us.”
England’s weekend performance saw them lose 42-21 to Ireland in front of their home crowd, sparking strong criticism, ahead of a crucial clash with Italy at the Stadio Olimpico on March 7.
Another slow start saw them concede 22 points in the first 30 minutes after being 17-0 down after just 15 minutes against Scotland.
“Obviously we are all very disappointed with the result on Saturday,” Borthwick said. “This is not the level of performance we wanted, and obviously we have been reporting on this thoroughly and honestly to clarify and focus attention on what needs to be improved.
“Obviously at the start of the game we had a lot of scoring chances that we didn’t have in the opposition 22 and I think credit was given to them for defending so well. We’ve got to be better.”
“Test your rugby. When you get an opportunity, you have to take it. You have to be cool with those opportunities. Secondly, we turned the ball over too much and that puts our defense in vulnerable positions and defending against unstructured situations.”
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sky Sports’ James Cole reports England suffered a heavy loss to Ireland at Twickenham in the Six Nations.
England’s defense has missed 53 tackles and conceded 73 points in their last two outings. Borthwick points to the impact of his team’s turnover problem.
Borthwick also highlighted the need for greater intensity after being outplayed by Andy Farrell’s Ireland.
“It has more to do with the number of balls we turn over,” Borthwick said of the defensive issues. “If you turn the ball over in an unstructured situation, it can leave a team like Ireland cold as they have too many balls to attack.
“One of the hallmarks of this team over the last 12 to 18 months has been that the team has operated at a consistently high intensity, and I don’t think that intensity has been at the level we would have liked. It’s a sharp reminder that if you fall a percentage or two off testing levels, you’re exposed.”
On Wednesday it was confirmed that scrum-half Alex Mitchell has been ruled out for the remainder of England’s Six Nations campaign with a hamstring injury.
Jack van Poortvliet is expected to start at scrum-half against Italy, with Raffi Quirke called up as a substitute.
Henry Pollock was one of two England players guilty of their poor discipline again in the defeat.
“Unfortunately he will be out for a few weeks, which means he will not play for us for the remainder of this Championship,” Borthwick said. “Oli Lawrence has been out of the squad for a few days, so we brought him back for this training week.
“He saw a specialist around his knee yesterday and had an injection. I don’t know if his picture will be released later this week, but hopefully he’ll be back soon.”
“There is also George Furbank who is not with us. He is at Northampton this week so he will be playing for his club team this weekend. A number of players started the week with their clubs, trained with us later in the week and will return to their clubs this weekend to get some game time.”
England coach Borthwick had a lot to worry about due to the two defeats.
England enter the game against Scotland on a 12-game winning streak following their win over Wales in their Six Nations campaign. Borthwick vowed to respond to the recent setback in Italy.
“Obviously there were a few times early in the game where we didn’t take our chances and the other team did,” he said.
“And there were a few mistakes in the first half that put the team under a lot of stress and we talked about those moments, experiences that we are confident will be positive for the long-term development of this team.
“It’s painful now. It’s painful for me, all the players and all the England supporters. We’ll try to do better next week in Rome.”
