In a town once known as “the casino of the forest”, where Ian Fleming would come to write his James Bond novels and find time for the odd game of cards, Steve Borthwick has much to ponder as England head into their World Cup rest week. Namely: to stick or twist.
The squad has largely dispersed for a few days with England not due to resume training until Thursday – their next match against Samoa is not until 7 October – so Borthwick has plenty of thinking time. Summer has turned to autumn in Le Touquet and the population is dwindling so a few long walks may be in order because England’s performance in the 71-0 win over Chile has provided him with food for thought.
Marcus Smith’s try on the stroke of half-time was, in microcosm, everything that supporters want this side to be, the 24-year-old taking a sharp pass from Owen Farrell and dashing after his own grubber to score. He is playing down the try in the extreme when he says: “I thought I’d give it a go and run like Forrest Gump.” Henry Arundell, meanwhile, scored five tries, thanks in no small part to having Smith playing next to him. When George Ford was introduced England cut loose with three fly‑halves on the pitch.
It should be said that they made an anxious start. In the first 20 minutes Smith flung one wayward pass to Max Malins when he ought to have gone himself and scuffed a grubber for Elliot Daly – but, once Arundell had gone over for his first score, England settled into their stride. “In these types of games, if we had won 28-12 or something like that, you’d have that feeling in you that it wasn’t good enough, but it’s a really nice place to be in that we’re happy with the performance,” the scrum-half Danny Care said.
Care, who was on the outside looking in during the Six Nations before returning to the fold over the summer, says it has been a while coming. “We get it. I probably get it more than anyone, having been out of it and watching that team, thinking: ‘When are they going to let loose and show what we really want to see?’ I thought we showed that. In the first two games, England were still getting stick for how we played, but we are sat here three from three and that’s where we wanted to be.”
It is one thing to twist against Chile, however, quite another to do so against Samoa. Not so much because England’s quarter-final spot is in any doubt – they are all but assured a place after three wins in three games – but because the Samoa match presents Borthwick with the opportunity to fine-tune the gameplan for the knockout stages, where they may well run into another Pacific island nation in Fiji.
A return to a kick-heavy strategy may prove effective but it would feel like regression after the 11 tries on Saturday. “We’ve been working hard the last couple of weeks on moving the ball,” Smith said.
“We saw that over the first two games as well and we wanted to take another step forward this week. To be able to showcase our hard work on the weekend was amazing and it was nice to get some reward for the wingers, to score that many tries today and put on a show for the fans who’ve made such an effort the last three weeks.
“The least we could do is show what it means to play for England and get the country behind us. Whenever we have the country behind us, it’s always special.”
And there Smith gets to the nub of it. For whatever reason, the country has found it difficult to warm to Borthwick’s England to date, the backs-to-the-wall performance against Argentina aside, but Smith’s emergence as an option at full-back brings a frisson of excitement; it gives supporters hope. The same can be said of Arundell, whose pace provides England with something that has been missing to date. “He is a great finisher and he certainly makes things happen,” Borthwick said.
“I think we have fantastic options. And what you’ve seen is a team that is starting to sharpen, you see a team that is starting to come together and that’s always been in the plan. These few days’ recovery have always been in the plan, as I anticipate we will all get sharper going into the next game.”
