It was a statement more striking for what remained unsaid rather than that which was spoken. Steve Borthwick is far from the first head coach to receive the oft-dreaded vote of confidence from those above him – the very fact that the Rugby Football Union (RFU) felt a need to release a message of support at all reflected the fact that the severity of the situation had stiffened, and the tenor of the conversation had changed. A first-ever defeat to Italy will do that.
Such missives are carefully considered and even more carefully worded. The RFU has made the mistake of misjudging their tone before, memorably stating that England had made “solid progress” at the end of a 2022 Six Nations campaign under Eddie Jones that contained just two wins. So when Bill Sweeney, the chief executive, gave backing to Borthwick last Sunday not through to next year’s World Cup but to the first fixtures of the inaugural Nations Championship in July, the implication seemed clear – the England boss has four games in which to safeguard his future.
That is a run of both immense demand and opportunity. A streak of fixtures that begins with a mighty task against a title-chasing France in Paris this Saturday will then straddle three continents and two hemispheres, an “away” game in Liverpool against Fiji plonked between long-haul trips to South Africa and Argentina. Come out in credit, with the exact specifics of that target seemingly to be determined post-tournament, and Borthwick will have earned the opportunity to see through his project.
Borthwick does not immediately strike as a man for a crisis but this is, at least, relatively familiar territory. His three years so far have been marked by three deep troughs: the disastrous build-up to the 2023 World Cup; the run of on and off-field incertitude that began after the 2024 tour of New Zealand; and now this latest, quite possibly history-making Six Nations. No previous England side has finished a Six Nations campaign with a single win – if a valiant defeat may be a credible result given the context, the pressure is on.
At the time, Borthwick’s pre-Six Nations declaration that he wished England to head to Paris with a title on the line felt unduly bold from a week-by-week character not prone to such suggestions; in retrospect, it feels rather more hubristic.
But even England’s toughest critics, of which there seem to be many, would be lying if they suggested that they foresaw a side bouncing along on a 12-match winning run losing the next three. So much of this has felt, even within camp, unexpected and uncomfortable, and that the squad and the staff have looked short of solutions to remedy their malaise does not reflect well on either. If, generally, the group remains tight, a few cracks behind the scenes are understood to be starting to show.
Defensive discipline and attacking profligacy have been pointed to as reasons for the slump but each feels as much a symptom as a cause. The former has come from deeds both desperate and foolish, while the latter has not been helped by the significant moving parts across this campaign, to which injuries have contributed. Luck, as ever, has played a part, too – although fortune tends to favour the bold.
How, then, do England go about beating France? That is a challenge that will excite Borthwick. It is surely time to release some of the shackles or straitjackets in which plenty of qualified judges believe Borthwick’s men to be playing.
If all international environments are now data-driven, there is an eyes-up ambition to other sides in this tournament that England seem to have lacked – if it is far easier to throw caution to the wind on a sun-kissed day at Murrayfield than in the dark depths of a Paris cauldron, Scotland at least gave a few pointers on how pace and purpose can worry an excellent, but far from impregnable, French team.
In rugby, like politics, image can be everything and the perception of Borthwick and his team is one that does not wish to play that way. And yet we have seen in the past that is no irrefutable truth, not just along the 12-match winning run but in this fixture two years ago when England were pipped in a Lyon thriller that seemed to show a glimpse of what they could become.
When their head coach spoke again this week of the shirt weighing heavy on his players – a common refrain at the start of 2024 – it was an unwelcome regression. That France have thrown nigh on three times as many offloads as England in this tournament speaks to a difference in philosophy and form. It is incumbent on the visiting squad, and the senior players particularly, to find themselves again.
If the installation of Ollie Chessum on the blindside may help England cement a possible set-piece advantage, there will be a need to do something different. If the sort of ruthlessness that Scotland showed – Gregor Townsend’s side averaged more than a try per 22 entry – is statistically likely to be beyond them, the two tries in Italy showed some of the invention required to address their recurrent failings in that regard.
The fear is that France have plenty of frustration to channel, and plenty on the line. The bubbling sense of discomfort and discontentment at what Fabien Galthie has and has not achieved with a squad of adored players has resurfaced again after the French grand slam dreams were dashed but – and this should be made clear – the Six Nations is exceptionally tough to win. Back-to-back titles, particularly in an era where Italy’s rise has made the championship more competitive than ever, would still be a significant achievement.
They will have the advantage of knowing what is needed with Ireland and Scotland in action earlier on “Super Saturday”, and that of having the world’s best player ticking after a rare off-day. “We’re all human,” Galthie said of his captain Antoine Dupont. “Sometimes he’s very good, sometimes he’s less successful. Antoine is human, and even though he’s an exceptional player, he can have difficult periods. It’s nothing serious.”
England felt an acute sense of Paris pain on their last meeting with the hosts here in 2022, a grand slam secured not in spectacular style but without particular doubt. That was a sixth title for France, and success on Saturday would mean two more since that would take them beyond their opponents as the outright most successful side in the Six Nations era. Although interestingly, both side have exactly 87 match wins in this tournament since the addition of Italy in 2000, five fewer than Ireland, meaning Saturday’s winners will claim second spot in the wins list outright.
Trailing France in the Six Nations title count would damn English rugby, although Borthwick is far from the first head coach to struggle to make the maths work and England the sum of their parts; too many teams have promised much and delivered relatively little. It will be seven years next spring since the last title taken to Twickenham. Even if they poop the Paris party on Saturday night, and restore waning faith in their head coach, a two-win campaign and possible fifth-placed finish beckon – and that surely is not good enough.
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