No bouncy castles, no paddleboarding and, mercifully, not a judo mat in sight. As yet no reports of Steve Borthwick throwing anybody a packet of sweets, handing out a crate of beer or promising a prime cut of beef then sending sausages because “you’re not ready for steak yet”. Indeed, searching England’s Bagshot hotel for tangible signs the Borthwick era is up and running was proving a thankless task until the penny dropped: it was their very absence that revealed so much more.
This week England were due to be at a warm-weather training camp in Portugal. In the last year they have been to Brighton and Jersey, even Thorpe Park, performing numerous exercises designed to build social capital. This is not to belittle Eddie Jones’s methods – history shows that they were incredibly popular and mightily effective in his first few years as head coach – but it will come as little surprise to hear that it is not Borthwick’s style.
