There was plenty of positivity coming out of the England camp following the arrival of new head coach Steve Borthwick as the team builds towards the 2023 World Cup.
However, England were brought back down to earth with a bump after their Six Nations opening-round defeat at home to Scotland and the side have plenty to work on if they are to be World Cup challengers later this year.
England’s Fragility Shown Again
After a disappointing Autumn Series last year, on the back of two poor Six Nations campaigns, the England hierarchy decided to call time on Eddie Jones’ tenure as head coach. Borthwick was the top candidate to replace the Australian and was announced as the new boss in December. The former Leicester Tigers coach didn’t have long to settle into the role before England’s first game and it was one that was to end in a 29-23 defeat to the Scots. England, who are 14/1 in the Six Nations rugby odds to win the title, were right in the game until the final whistle but could not produce the accuracy needed in the dying moments to regain the Calcutta Cup. Borthwick’s side are priced at 13/2 in the rugby union betting with Paddy Power to win the 2023 World Cup, but there is a lot of improvement needed for this to be realistic and they will have been ruing the errors that cost them against their oldest rivals.
A settled Scotland side seemed to play without the fear that shadowed them for decades when heading down to Twickenham. That fear factor of showing up to Rugby HQ has seemed to have dwindled in recent years and the Scots capitalised on that to win, as reported by ESPN. Leading by eight points at one stage in the second half, Borthwick will be disappointed his side could not take control of the game and take the match away from the Scots. Errors highlighted by The Guardian at set-piece, ill-discipline and missed tackles ultimately cost the hosts on their way to a losing start to the Six Nations. While the result was not what England were looking for, Borthwick was eager after the full-time whistle to focus on the positives.
Still Early Days And Plenty Of Potential
Having announced his first England squad, it was only 11 days in camp for the players under the new regime before that encounter with the Scots. While a settled Scotland side travelled to Spain for some warm-weather training ahead of the Calcutta Cup game, England stayed at home to try and utilise as much as the time given to them as possible. Time was certainly against Borthwick and his management team before the showdown at Twickenham but there were positives to take from the performance. England looked more of a threat in attack than they have shown in the past and that will be something to build on leading into the World Cup.
It was a big decision to part company with Jones at the end of last year and it was not much of a surprise to see some teething problems at the start of Borthwick’s reign. England supporters will be hoping the side settle quickly into the new ideas from the head coach, with time a precious commodity ahead of the highly-anticipated 2023 World Cup.
