Thomas Tuchel spotted attending England rugby training, Steve Borthwick explains why

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England’s 12 match unbeaten run has come to a sudden halt, beginning with defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield and followed by a sobering 42-21 loss to Ireland that has all but extinguished their Six Nations title hopes.

The team now travel to face an Italy side brimming with belief after spirited performances against Ireland and France and a home victory over Scotland on the opening weekend. Historically, Italy have never beaten England in 32 previous meetings, but the current mood ensures there is no room for complacency.

Borthwick has responded decisively. Nine players have been replaced and there are 12 changes in total, the largest overhaul ever made by England during a Six Nations campaign. Alongside those alterations has come outside expertise, with Tuchel joined by members of his football staff including John McDermott, Anthony Barry, Justin Cochrane and Henrique Hilario.

For Borthwick, the visit is part of a broader commitment to constant learning.

"Well, I think there's always plenty we can learn, and I think we've got to be always really curious about what people think and what observations they have. So there's a bit there I've already talked about domestic to international and how you bridge that, how you deal with that. It's a short period of time. They have very, very small windows of preparation time. So that certainly interested me and I think we're going to debrief properly after this to go through the areas."

One theme that resonated strongly with the squad concerned selection and communication. England in rugby traditionally name their team early in the week, whereas Tuchel and his football counterparts operate on a different timeline.

"The players, in particular, were very interested to chat with Thomas about selection and when they name their team. Obviously we name early in the week and theirs is different and the players were talking about the pros and cons of that and how that helped them.

"I think the players found that really, really interesting and they shared some reflections upon our training today, which were live reflections, which was really helpful. What I'm looking forward to is debriefing properly next. We always have a number of guests in and what we always do is try and debrief fully to get their thoughts. It's part of our process of improving."

Beyond the technical discussions lies a shared understanding of scrutiny. Managing any England side brings relentless expectation. Tuchel faces demands to deliver major silverware this summer in the USA, just as Borthwick is judged on Six Nations results and World Cup ambitions.

"With Gareth Southgate and with Brendan McCullum I've certainly talked about the approach, certainly talked about those expectations that are placed on their England teams and how they've dealt with it. It was my first time meeting Thomas today, so I've not had that conversation. I chat with football managers quite often, I find that when you're chatting to people who currently manage or have managed in the Premier League, that expectation, the feeling of the consequences, that's something that comes across really strongly."

The visit of Tuchel came after Milan-Cortina gold medallist Matt Weston came into camp yesterday, and following a dinner hosted by the coaching staff with members of the 2003 World Cup-winning squad last week.

"I remember many times chatting to Clive [Woodward] and Clive would talk about going to the World Cup being the best team in the world, going as the number one team in the world, that's what we want to be, the number one side in the world and to do that you have to deal with, always, expectation. Clearly, Matt Weston, who was in yesterday, that was one of the things that he talked about. He dealt with expectation, he went into that Olympics in Milan-Cortina a few weeks ago with incredible expectation, I think he was holding every major championship in his sport and said 'I'm going to go and perform.'

"Not only that, we did the Q&A with him and he got faster with every run, and round four when you're just thinking that I'm going to go and just put a run down that gets me a gold medal, he goes and breaks the track record again, doesn't he. Goes faster again and keeps pushing. That was tremendous, I think that was great for our players, for all of us to hear and listen to.

"Expectation comes with the territory when you're involved with English sport. I'd much rather be involved with the team with expectation than the one that doesn't."