Steve Borthwick insists the days of England rugby teams being cannon fodder in New Zealand are over as his side await their two-Test series against the All Blacks. The head coach says he played in teams who were mentally beaten before they stepped off the plane but he believes the current squad are a different breed.
While England have not toured New Zealand for a decade and have failed to win on Kiwi soil since 2003, Borthwick and his players have flown south determined to show the balance of global rugby power is shifting. They are also motivated by the possibility of becoming the first English team to beat the All Blacks in a multi-Test series.
Borthwick is fully aware that Ireland defeated the All Blacks 2-1 on their 2022 tour and is hopeful his own side will also be highly competitive. “One of the things I do as a coach is talk about the experiences of the past,” he said as his side packed their bags after Saturday’s 52-17 win over Japan in Tokyo. “I want us to be different. I’ve been in squads that have got on the plane with no real belief. There have been some series where that’s happened.
“I want this group of players to be excited about what we’re trying to do. Let’s take on the best teams and see what we can do and where we can get better. We have incredible respect for New Zealand and their players but there are also a lot of players who want to test themselves against the best and see how good they are.”
The levels of confidence within Borthwick’s reshaped squad have been growing since they beat Ireland at Twickenham and ran France very close in Lyon in March and the past is increasingly another country to a number of their younger players.
“When I spoke to the players in the changing rooms after the France game in the Six Nations I used the analogy of when [engineers] were trying to break the sound barrier,” Borthwick said. “You get to limits but then you’ve got to improve and build it stronger. We know we’ve got a lot of growth still to do but I don’t want players putting any limits on themselves before we walk into that environment. Let’s go and find out what we need to improve. Let’s go and find out what works. Let’s go and take on the challenge.
“What I’m sensing from a coaching perspective is that younger players are much more about themselves, this team and what we can do and less about the opposition. I think that’s a change over time. There’s always a balance because you need to respect every team we play against. But what I keep seeing from these players is that they love a challenge. I don’t think they put limits on themselves. They just want to see how good they can be.”
There is certainly little sign of an inferiority complex among some of England’s emerging talents, with the winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and the No 8 Ben Earl both eager to take on the All Blacks.
Exeter’s Feyi-Waboso, who is also studying medicine and has an assignment on type 1 diabetes to complete this week, said: “I feel like I want to see how I stack up against New Zealand. Weaknesses in my game will definitely get shown up and hopefully I can bring my strengths.
“The All Blacks are the All Blacks but they are human as well. As a fan you put them on a pedestal but now as a rugby player you have to keep them grounded and yourself grounded. Everyone is the same; just good rugby players. When you speak to players who have played against them they don’t put them on a pedestal and you just follow suit.”
Earl, who spent some time playing at inside-centre in the second half against Japan, is similarly motivated to impress in New Zealand. “As a player, it’s a bucket-list thing to do. As a keen cricket fan, what do they say? ‘Runs in an away Ashes always count double.’ That’s a nice slogan for us to take with us to that neck of the woods.”
England, who would love to sow a few seeds of doubt in Kiwi minds, have enjoyed some good days against New Zealand in the relatively recent past. Seven of the squad shared in England’s Rugby World Cup semi-final victory over the same opponents in 2019, while the All Blacks were held to a draw at Twickenham in 2022 and were denied victory in the 2017 British & Irish Lions series when Maro Itoje was a key figure. “Everyone in our squad who has had the experience of playing against them has had quite positive memories and it’s definitely something we can feed off,” Earl, a Saracens teammate of Itoje, said.
“Our coaching staff are so good that they will have a plan. New Zealand are an amazing team but we feel we are a team who want to be up in that conversation. All the signs in this team are really positive and we are improving week on week.”
