Steve Borthwick has called on Scotland supporters to lay off Gregor Townsend before the Calcutta Cup on Saturday, pointing out that his opposite number is his nation’s most successful coach of the professional era.
Townsend is under huge pressure after the defeat against Italy in Rome last weekend came after he bizarrely claimed a report he had agreed to take over at Newcastle Red Bulls after the 2027 World Cup was a ruse designed to distract his side before they welcome England to Murrayfield.
Scotland have plummeted to 10th in the world rankings and, while he has a fine record of five wins and one draw from his eight Calcutta Cups, the knives are out for Townsend, with the former captain John Barclay insisting he must go if they finish outside the Six Nations’ top three this year.
Referencing that Townsend has a win-rate of 55%, Borthwick said: “Firstly, I think Gregor Townsend is a wonderful coach. I was told recently that he has the best win record of any Scotland coach in the professional era. Sir Ian McGeechan had two spells and I think Gregor sits above that. The way he has coached the attack they have, and the way they move the ball, when they do that, they look terrific.
“I have immense respect for him as a coach and I find it surprising that people are not spending more time talking about Scotland rather than not supporting their coach. I think he’s a phenomenal coach and they should spend more time supporting him.”
England have won only once at Murrayfield since 2016 but are on a run of 12 successive victories. Borthwick has kept changes to his side to a minimum, restoring Maro Itoje to the captaincy, promoting Luke Cowan-Dickie to start at hooker to maximise Jamie George’s strengths of the bench but largely keeping faith with the team who thumped Wales last week.
With Fin Smith replacing namesake Marcus on the bench, England appear light on three-quarters cover but Ben Earl has regularly been deployed at centre while Henry Pollock will continue to have “freedom to roam” when he comes on as a replacement.
“[Henry’s] got incredible pace and super handling skills and you see not just his ability to make breaks, but how he supports breaks,” Borthwick said. “How often do you see him on somebody’s shoulder taking an offload and then running on and scoring or potentially giving another offload for somebody else to score? His skill set and the way he plays the game is less within a structure and more within having freedom to roam to go and find the ball and find where he needs to be. I’m very confident with him in that position.”
Borthwick also believes his side is well equipped to deal with any Scottish skullduggery at Murrayfield, with previous Calcutta Cups featuring a tunnel bust-up involving Ryan Wilson, George Ford and Owen Farrell in 2018 as well as bagpipers encroaching on England’s half in the warmup.
“This is a brilliant place to play rugby, against a very good team,” the England head coach said. “If you go back, how have I, how have we approached it? How exciting is this, another brilliant international in this fantastic championship and another step in the development of this team and a great challenge playing against a Scotland team who have a lot of top quality players in it.”