England head coach Steve Borthwick and captain Maro Itoje have rejected claims made in a newspaper article this week of a squad rift, saying it “does not represent the environment” they recognise.
Speaking to media following Sunday’s dominant 45-22 Nations Championship victory over Australia at Allianz Stadium Twickenham, Borthwick addressed the article for the first time since its publication on Friday.
Within it, The Times reported that some England players lost faith in Borthwick during a summer campaign which included a 45-21 defeat to world champions South Africa and a nervy win over Argentina.
It is alleged players objected to Borthwick’s treatment of them, that he was involved in a training ground bust-up with Ellis Genge and that they wanted RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney – who this week unequivocally backed the head coach – to listen to their gripes.
Speaking to Sky Sports on Friday, Jamie George said England’s players were “hurt” by the report, calling the timing of the article “shocking.”
On Sunday, Borthwick said: “It’s not an environment I recognise. It’s not an accurate reflection.
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“What I will say is that in the last couple of days, a number of my predecessors have reached out and contacted me, and they certainly did.
“They’re always supportive, and I won’t name who they are, but a number of them reached out to me and the basic gist of it is: ‘Been there, got the t-shirt, focus on the rugby’, and that’s it.
“As England head coach you get that t-shirt, and what you do is focus on the rugby and that’s what I’ve done this week, that’s what the players have done, that’s what every member of the staff around the players has done.
“That’s what we’ve done this week.”
Henry Pollock starred off the bench for England out of position on the wing as they comprehensively beat Australia
Itoje: We have full support in Borthwick
Sat next to Borthwick at Sunday’s post-match press conference, England skipper Itoje gave a passionate defence of his head coach.
“From a player’s point of view, we have full support in Steve,” he said.
“I’ve had the privilege of Steve being my coach since 2016, with a little gap when he was in his Leicester years. That’s not the man I recognise. The article doesn’t represent the environment I recognise, and I think if you speak to players over his coaching career they will say a different story.
“Particularly, often you think about players from other countries. If you speak to some of those guys from the 2017 Lions tour [to New Zealand], they’ll tell you about the impact Steve had on them.
“Those guys aren’t English I’m talking about, I’m talking about the Irish guys, I’m talking about the Welsh guys who he had the pleasure of coaching and having an influence on.
Maro Itoje gave a passionate defence of Borthwick on Sunday post-match
“Just from a player’s point of view, as always there’s things that we want to get right, there’s things that we try and put on the field, sometimes for whatever reason it doesn’t quite click. I think often too much criticism is attached to the coach.
“Whereas, no matter how well Steve coaches us, we as players are the ones on the field. We as players are the ones who have to perform and put it right.
“There’s been times where we haven’t quite done that which has put a bit of pressure on him. I’m delighted that today we were able to get the win. He’s a world-class coach and we’re lucky to have him.”
What’s next?
For England, they next face Japan in their second Nations Championship Test of the autumn at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday November 14 (4.40pm kick-off).