Steve Borthwick believes the Twickenham faithful will have lapped up England’s maul-or-nothing performance against Italy after chalking up the first win of his tenure as head coach.
England killed off a dangerous Italian side with three tries from driving mauls as well as a close-range score from Ollie Chessum before Henry Arundell dotted down late on to return their side to winning ways after the defeat by Scotland in the tournament opener. Borthwick was quick to point out how far behind their championship rivals – who played out a thrilling contest on Saturday – his side are but pointed to “small steps forward” with a trip to Wales next up on Saturday week.
Borthwick’s changes to his team were a success insofar as Ollie Lawrence impressed at inside-centre and Jack Willis excelled at openside flanker but England mostly failed to click into gear as an attacking force with ball in hand, relying on lineout drives to build their lead. In the second half there were audible groans as players persevered with the tactic of kicking in behind but Borthwick insisted: “This is still the first layer of the rebuild. I think the fans enjoyed the maul, they certainly enjoy a maul at Twickenham so I was pleased to see a few.
“The first thing is that I want the supporters to be proud of their team. The team needs to build the right tactical plan within a game. [Here] was the maul, it doesn’t mean it will be next week or the week after but we’ve got to build some strengths within this team and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Ireland are top of the Six Nations table after the first two rounds after bonus-point wins against Wales and France with Scotland in second on points difference. England’s trip to face Wales – who are bottom after two heavy defeats from two matches – could make or break their campaign but Borthwick was eager to highlight how his side are playing catch-up with the pacesetters.
“These teams are in the final year of their four-year plan,” added Borthwick. “They’ve used the four years really well and now they’re putting the finishing touches to it. They know their selection, the caps under their belt, they’re arriving at the World Cup with the right number of caps, you’ve spent the right amount of time together as players and a coaching group. We’re not in that situation. The way we train, play and the way we approach our off-field preparation is that we’re maximising every minute. We have to. The players have embraced that. I’ve asked them to do something different and they’ve embraced it.”
