Steve Borthwick has distanced his England side from Eddie Jones’ regime, criticized by Danny Care, by revealing he has an open-door policy and encourages cooperation from players.
In his autobiography published in The Times, Care wrote that everyone was ‘scared to the point of avoiding’ Jones, who coached England from 2015 to 2022.
The 101-cap scrum-half, now retired from international rugby, added that the “toxic” methods used by Jones left the players feeling like “characters in a dystopian novel”.
Borthwick worked as an assistant coach under Jones in Japan and England before replacing his former boss at Twickenham two years ago when he was sacked for poor performance.
current culture
In refusing to “talk about someone’s experience” in relation to Care’s claims, Borthwick argues that he has created a culture where players can make their voices heard.
When asked if his team was being challenged, Borthwick responded: “There are many times when we have ideas and discuss them. Almost every day.
“I will talk to the players, exchange ideas and then refine, adjust and improve things.
“The players know the game better than anyone else on the pitch. The best players are the best coaches and luckily we have some great, great minds in this group.
“This fall we have made notable progress in terms of players speaking and sharing their opinions at team meetings.
“I’m just trying to create the right environment for this group. I finished as England’s forwards coach at the start of 2020 and here we are in 2024.
“Now I can ask my players and assistant coaches whatever I want to ask them about the environment.”
regular supervision
Borthwick said his England organization was regularly overseen by Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney and managing director of performance rugby Conor O’Shea, as well as being open to visitors from the wider game .
“Bill and I talk every week in person or on the phone. Bill was in camp last week and will be in camp this weekend as well,” said the former Leicester director of rugby.
“Conor was in camp on Monday and spent half a day there. England Under-18 and Under-20 coaches participated. There is a lot of interaction. “Any Premiership club is very welcome to come in if they want to.”
wallaby crash
England go into Saturday’s game against Australia with the same starting line-up they lost 24-22 to New Zealand at the Allianz Stadium.
The only change to the XV is Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence swapping midfield positions to drive more output from central attack.
The bench returned to a 5-3 split between forwards and backs with Luke Cowan-Dickie set to make his first Test appearance in two years after replacing Theo Dan as a substitute.
Ben Curry was removed from the 23-man squad, and Ollie Sleightholme was promoted to third back.
George Ford missed a last-gasp drop goal against the All Blacks, but Borthwick is blaming the setup for the kick rather than the replacement fly-half for the costly miss.
“If you look at that series of plays, it starts with the scrimmage. “They ended up putting pressure on our scrum balls, which ended up putting pressure on George as well,” he said.
“We didn’t give George the platform he needed. So that’s frustrating. “It’s something we can do better in the future.”
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