Steve Borthwick has offered a withering dismissal of Warren Gatland’s criticism of the England Test team’s fitness levels.
England lost to Wales 20-9 in Cardiff on Saturday, whereupon home boss Gatland sauntered through the bowels of the Principality Stadium clutching a post-match beer – and stopped long enough to remark: “Too fit for them.”
Four words to launch a classic Gatland verbal bomb, only for Borthwick to defuse the metaphorical device, and with as little issue as possible.
Six words in fact were sufficient for Borthwick to consign Gatland’s smoking touch paper to the waste bin.
“I focus my attention on my team,” said Borthwick, fixing a jaw as steely as his resolve, when asked whether there is any benefit in mind games akin to those favoured by the wily Wales boss Gatland.
When Borthwick did turn attention to England’s fitness status, the 43-year-old head coach was just as clear with where he finds his squad some four weeks away from the Rugby World Cup.
England will face an ever-bullish Argentina in Marseille on Saturday, September 9 to launch their World Cup run.
The Red Rose men have three warm-up Tests left to order their house sufficiently, starting with Saturday’s Twickenham return clash with Wales.
“We are pretty clear on where we are at and where we need to be,” said Borthwick. “We are on track with where we need to be.”
England boast strength and conditioning guru Aled Walters as the mastermind of their physical World Cup preparation.
Walters was Borthwick’s chief fitness lieutenant in his title-winning Leicester regime, and spurred on South Africa’s 2019 Rugby World Cup triumph before that.
The Welshman knows exactly how to make a group of players peak at the right time, and that is precisely what Borthwick expects now.
“The programme is very specific and direct for what we need to do with the players we have,” said Borthwick. “Aled Walters, with his experience of getting a team right to win a World Cup, we’ve got a guy there who is proven to get a team together at the right time.
“We believe we’re on the right track for where we want to be right now. I don’t know what other teams are doing or saying about their players or our team, I just concentrate on my team and we’re in a pretty good place right now.”
Billy Vunipola will start Saturday’s Wales clash, to complete his return from knee surgery.
The 30-year-old went under the knife in April, but has battled back both to fitness and into Borthwick’s England reckoning.
Vunipola was omitted entirely from the Six Nations, but has rediscovered top form with Saracens and dislodged previous regular Alex Dombrandt from the World Cup squad.
The Saracens wrecking ball this week revealed he has apologised to Borthwick for verbally abusing the now England boss four years ago, when he was an assistant in the build-up to the 2019 World Cup.
Borthwick has always refused to go into detail on that incident in a Treviso training camp, but hailed Vunipola for both the apology and his public explanation.
“Billy done really well, and watching him, I think he’s in excellent condition,” said Borthwick. “He’s the one who’s worked incredibly diligently to be in the position he’s in right now.
“I said on Monday I wanted to have a last look at him to see how he was in terms of selection this week for this match. And he’s raring to go, as all the players are. He’s another player who hasn’t been in the white shirt for some time.
“I want the players to bring their strengths into the game, I want the players to want the ball, to really want the ball and make a difference within the game. I want to make sure all the players are in the position to want the ball.
“And I think his apology shows his character that he’s been so open and honest, publicly. That shows the character of the man.
“I think the whole issue, it’s turned out to be bigger than it is in reality. But Billy’s an important figure within the squad, the players have incredible respect for him, and they look up to him. So having him here in the squad is really important for us.”
