If this is his last game in charge, Steve Borthwick left Welford Road with a familiar sign-off – discipline, commitment and the result. Just about. Popular opinion no doubt has it that the end of the Eddie Jones era will mean that England unfurl their wings and fly, but those who know Borthwick may be less quick to jump to that conclusion.
But if results are your thing, England could do worse should the seemingly inevitable be announced this week. Leicester dispatched a young Clermont Auvergne, who got a whole lot younger early on with injuries to two key players of experience, by scoring two tries in the first half – from two lineouts, not altogether surprisingly. They were disciplined, conceding only six penalties, three of which accounted for nine of Clermont’s 16 points, and let the French side in only at the very death for a try off an attacking scrum by Sébastien Bézy that earned the visitors a bonus point.
