England fans were left with more question than answers after watching Steve Borthwick’s post match interview with Prime Video.
Speaking to the broadcaster following his sides 29-10 defeat in Dublin, Borthwick said: “It’s going to be another week of disruption. We knew that was coming already [with Owen Farrell’s hearing on Tuesday], it’s now been amplified by the situation with Billy,
“We certainly put a large emphasis on discipline and safety. We’ve talked about that, we’ve had plenty of conversations about it.
“What we need do to is take that incident in isolation itself and look at the incident the previous week, but we also need to ensure the penalty count away from that tackle area also improves.
“One of the things is control what we can control and with 15 men on the pitch there was a tightness in that game, but when we went to 14 men against Ireland we certainly struggled.
“We’ve got the players and if we get possession in the opposition half, we need to take our chances to score points.”
Social reaction:
One fan wrote: “Borthwick interview on Amazon saying it was tight while it was 15 vs 15. Was it bollocks, we were outclassed by an Irish team that knew it didn’t even need to get out of second gear.’
A second commented: “Listening to the nonesense Borthwick is spouting in his post match interview is absolutely shocking. He is completely out of his depth. Borthwick needs to go. Even 3 weeks out from a world cup. A. Emergency caretaker coach could do better with this group of players. No doubt”
Another said: “Already have a sinking feeling about Borthwick’s post match interview… if the lack of confidence he instils in the viewer has even a vague resemblance to his impact on the squad, theres no mystery here.:
A fourth commented: “Well done to@Sonjamclaughlan for saying the right things. This interview with Borthwick is excruciating.”
“Just watched Steve Borthwick interview. Honestly think he’s stuck as to what to do now,”
“0/10” – Four England players Steve Borthwick must drop, and who should replace them
Below, we look at four changes Borthwick should make for England’s final home match against Fiji ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
#1. Billy Vunipola
Telegraph 2/10: “Spilled a clearance kick, to the delight of Dublin. His head shot on Andrew Porter was inevitably upgraded to a red by the bunker. Another ban looms, as does a crisis at No.8 for Borthwick. “
Rugby Pass 0/10: “Having failed to sparkle seven days earlier, a huge step forward in performance was needed. It didn’t happen, his day ending with a red card via the TMO bunker. Borthwick claims Vunipola is as fit as he has ever seen him but that S&C didn’t emerge in this display where he looked leggy getting around despite being level with Genge at the short whistle on the pack ball-carrying metres. Two penalty concessions and a cheap knock-on that generated jeers from the home crowd highlight his first half difficulties. Sent packing for his yellow-carded shot on Andrew Porter 13 minutes into the second half, an incident soon upgraded to red due to “high degree of danger, no wrap, no mitigation”.”
REPLACEMENT: Who knows with no other recognises number 8’s in the squad. Maybe, Tom Curry?