Ben Earl has expressed how his England teammates have full confidence in their head coach Steve Borthwick, despite a third consecutive defeat in the 2026 Guinness Men’s Six Nations. England were stunned last night in Rome, as Italy secured a 23-18 comeback victory at the Stadio Olimpico.
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Following the match, Earl was asked as to whether the seeds of doubt have started to emerge upon Steve Borthwick’s position at the helm. However, the back row gave an impassioned response in favour of his coach, calling upon England’s recent 12-match winning streak, the 2023 Rugby World Cup run and the iconic win over New Zealand as undeniable positives.
Earl admitted how there will be plenty of ‘bonkers noise’ following this latest defeat, given the matter of England losing to Italy for the first time in history. Speaking at the Stadio Olimpico, Earl said;
“100 per cent [we have faith]. Just have a think about what this team’s achieved since Steve took over. We’ve gone third in the World Cup. We’ve won 12 out of 15 games, but had won 12 on the bounce. We’ve beaten the All Blacks for the first time in Twickenham since 2012.
“The noise is actually bonkers, I think it’s crazy because the group, if anyone’s letting Steve down, it’s us. And we need to play better at certain moments because we’re playing well for 50 minutes, playing well for 40 minutes, playing well for 30 minutes. We’ve just got to put it together, and we will. But don’t question that group above us because at the end of the day, they’re doing everything they can, and we’re the ones letting them down.”
“Steve gives us a game plan where I honestly have complete, supreme confidence that we’ll win every game. That’s not always been the case, under every coach I’ve played under, but he makes me feel, and makes everyone feel, that they can do whatever they want as long as it’s within the framework of the game plan. The game plan has worked for 12 out of the last 15 times, so the noise is wild. It’s crazy.”
With just 17 months to go until England head to Australia for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, Earl expressed how he would much rather see his side makes mistakes now, than out in the land ‘down under’. The last three defeats have provided England with plenty to dissect, with Earl adamant to find diamonds in the rough and take positives from his side’s performances.
“Well, like you say, three types of different losses. I don’t want to unpick what’s happened before [Scotland and Ireland defeats], but that was a performance [against Italy] where we brought the game plan to life and Italy won a couple of moments in the last 20 minutes to win the game.
“That is Test match rugby. That’s another lesson for us. Of course, at some point, you go and say, ‘how many lessons can you take?’ But, again, I keep saying I’d rather learn these lessons now than in Brisbane in 2027. Loads went into that game. Can’t fault the preparation or the mental attitude of the group.”
“Again, pain now, joy later.” Earl would later add. “That’s the way we have to look at it because we sit here and say, this isn’t working, change again, we just won’t improve, and that’s what we want to do. We’ve got France next week, that game [50-40 defeat to Scotland] sounded like a bonkers game in itself.”
Earl saw a late re-shuffling to his back row ahead of the clash in Rome, as Tom Curry sustained a late calf injury in the warm-up. The Sale man was replaced by Sam Underhill, with Chandler Cunningham-South promoted to the bench. Earl discussed the late change of script, and handed full credit to his side in how well they dealt with the injury blow.
“Can’t fault [it]. You lose Tom Curry at the warm-up, that couldn’t throw a team off, losing a six-test Lion like that. The group just adapts and just finds ways of thriving in that environment. Like I said, if that game ended at 60 minutes, you’d say that was an unbelievable performance by England. But, unfortunately, the result didn’t go our way. So, that is what it is.”
Earl doubled-down upon how this match was by no means a ‘collapse’ from an England stand-point, as he handed full credit to the resilience of an ever-improving Italian team. However, the Saracen admitted how England’s ill-discipline once again cost the side, as Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje’s subsequent trips to the sin bin left his side with 13 men against an enigmatic Italian attack.
“Firstly, it’s certainly not a collapse. Each performance has had different issues that sort of rear their head. Again, I’m not going to talk about the last two weeks [Scotland and Ireland defeats] because you lot [reporters] have written thousands of words about it already.
“But the game today, honestly, we’re in one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played for 60 minutes. We had two good teams throwing punch after punch, tactical nous versus tactical nous, and we’re on top. There probably was some ill-discipline with 13 men in a Six Nations game, where every game now is like a top level Test match.
“You are going to eventually concede points, and it happened. That’s not to throw blame on those players who got yellow carded, it’s just the nature of the game and we’re going to have to get better at that.”
There is no doubt that the Azzurri have come on leaps and bounds throughout the past few years, with Earl labelling Gonzalo Quesada’s men a ‘proper team’ after their latest milestone was acommplished.
“I think we’ve got to realise, history is history with what’s happened with Italy, but, that’s a proper, proper team. So, excuse my French but there’s going to be a s*** tonne of noise, whatever, but that’s a very good team. They’re going to go and beat some good teams. That doesn’t mean that we can’t improve and we can’t beat them, but, I thought there were large parts of that performance that were brilliant.”
Earl elaborated upon how this is arguably the tightest he has seen the Six Nations. France, Scotland and Ireland are all viable winners as we head into Super Saturday in a week’s time.
“Absolutely, we watched the Wales game [vs Ireland] last night and I thought that was tremendous. How much have they improved? This game and the nature of Test match rugby is coming down to a single moment. It is like it is a game of chess for 60 minutes, a game of chess for 40 minutes and then there’ll be a moment in the game which will just change it. We unfortunately have not capitalised on those moments or not dealing with those moments. That’s how I am certainly looking at it so that I am still buoyant with where this team’s at.”
Picking out some of the diamonds in the rough from the defeat in Rome, Earl was delighted to see how well England newcomers Seb Atkinson and Cadan Murley both performed, along with established Test match starts Elliot Daly, Sam Underhill and Fin Smith to name just a few. It’s clear that the Saracen does not see this defeat to Italy as the same glaring warning siren that comes from the outside, as he recalled the positive elements of the latest match before looking ahead to the final weekend of the tournament.
“I am just thinking of some of the individuals today. I thought Seb Atkinson was brilliant. I thought Fin [Smith] came in and offered something a bit different. Cadan Murley was tremendous. Elliot Daly, fantastic. Sam, bear in mind he was not in the starting XV, was his trademark self.
“There were so many good performances out there but unfortunately the result did not go the way we want so we can’t see the woods through the trees. We just have to stick at it. Imagine what it would be like if we didn’t train all week because we lost a couple of games, but that isn’t an option for us so we have to keep our shoulder to the wheel.”
On next Saturday’s clash in Paris, Earl added; “I can’t speak on behalf of everyone but I am almost raring to go. That’s the nature of this competition. It’s experience. We have had an away game at Murrayfield, an away game here and away game at the Stade de France, these are experiences that come the really big moments in 2027 [at the Rugby World Cup].
“Which again, I don’t like referring to but these are all unbelievable experiences and we’ll be much better prepared for having gone through a bit of this pain. Next week, they’re [France] going to be hurting and we’re probably hurting more than the, are so it is going to be a great game and I can’t wait.”
5 QUICK FACTS: BEN EARL
1. Premiership Player of the Season: Earl was named Gallagher Premiership Player of the Season in 2021–22, recognising his standout impact for Saracens.
2. Six Nations statistical leader: During the 2024 Six Nations, he made 73 carries and 419 metres for England, the most of any forward in the competition.
3. Play-off hat-trick hero: He scored a hat-trick in the Premiership semi-final against Harlequins, an extremely rare feat for a back-row forward.
4. Grand Slam youth captain: Earl captained England U20s after helping them win the 2017 U20 Six Nations Grand Slam earlier in his age-grade career.
5. Academic graduate: Away from rugby, he graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a degree in comparative literature in 2019.
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