On Sunday lunchtime, England’s humiliated rugby players boarded a train from Rome to Verona. They travelled 350 miles north towards the Italian Alps, where some of the world’s best athletes have gathered in recent weeks for the Winter Olympics.
The slope stars of Milan-Cortina aim to peak every four years. They are free from scrutiny for the rest of that time and their careers are defined by whether or not they make the medal podium.
English rugby has a similar attitude towards the World Cup. They talk about long-term plans and preparing for the big stage in Australia but that does not wash with the rugby public.
‘Pain now, joy later,’ said No 8 Ben Earl, who talked about the ‘supreme confidence’ he has in Steve Borthwick and his methods despite a first ever loss to Italy and the likelihood of now ending the Six Nations with just one win. ‘That’s another lesson for us. I’d rather learn these lessons now than in Brisbane in 2027.’
The English fans who forked out hundreds of pounds to travel to Rome for the weekend expected more. They do not want development and learnings. The messages coming out of the England camp are not cutting through and faith in the Borthwick regime is falling.
Back home at Twickenham at least, the noise is being heard. It is rare for the RFU to issue a statement of confidence in their coach, yet Sweeney, the CEO, felt compelled to do so after the team suffered their first ever defeat by Italy.
England rugby have been punchy discussing long-term plans, but in the here and now, the side is floundering
Faith in Steve Borthwick’s reign is failing and the RFU have had to issue a statement backing their coach
The last time they issued such a statement this was back in 2022, when the RFU talked about the ‘full support’ they have for Eddie Jones after his team won just two from five in the Six Nations. Nine months later, Jones was fired and Borthwick was rushed in as his replacement.
Sweeney’s latest statement offered his ‘full support’ in Borthwick to lead England into the Nations Championship this summer but it stopped short of mentioning of the World Cup. The support is being tested and Jones’ experience shows how the RFU knives can quickly sharpen.
There is little succession planning in place for Borthwick but the likes of Michael Cheika, Joe Schmidt and Ronan O’Gara will be playing close attention to the situation if England’s fortunes do not improve. A short-term fixer.
Borthwick was brought in as the antidote to the anarchic Jones. He was supposed to cause the RFU fewer headaches, more of a conformist – steady and methodical. Borthwick is a stickler for detail and nobody questions his work ethic but there are questions about whether the detail has gone too far. At the Stadio Olimpico, England’s coded approach to their must-win game appeared to have strangled their instinctive creativity.
They won collisions and contestable kicks yet they choked in attack. For Northampton, Fin Smith’s instinct would be to run the ball out of his own half. In Rome, he opted to kick the ball long but his methods were so predictable that he was charged down.
In the PREM, English players showcase their attacking abilities on a weekly basis. You rarely see teams kicking away edge possession in opposition territory as England did on Saturday night. France and Scotland showcased attacking play in a different league at Murrayfield but the gulf in performances does not reflect the levels of talent in the England squad.
They built a successful game plan in 2025 around retaining contestable kicks but opponents have caught up and England have not moved forwards. The kicking contest has become a lottery and the outcome has become so unpredictable that England have fallen from Grand Slam to Wooden Spoon contenders.
‘The aerial contest is pretty much 50-50 these days,’ said full-back Elliot Daly, who had no answer to the pace and power of Tommaso Menoncello, the Azzurri star at the heart of the Italian tries. ‘That’s the way the game goes now, every kick is contestable. You want that collision in the air because it’s not a guaranteed catch, it’s 50-50. If it goes to the air, everyone around you has to pick up that bouncing ball and then you’re in transition and it’s a good place to attack from.
England choked in attack and with such an unpredictable outcome for their game plan, they have become Wooden Spoon contenders
‘In the first half, we went after balls. Edge kicking, putting the ball in behind, trying to dominate the air in that first half. We stuck to the game plan and when we had chances, attacked well.’
But the game plan is not delivering results at international level. England’s attack has fallen behind and their tactics appear to be broken. So too does their confidence. In the final 10 minutes at the Stadio Olimpico, they also badly lacked leadership with captain Maro Itoje sin binned. Changing the entire backline for the game in Rome was a gamble that did not pay off, proving the problems lie beyond the men on the pitch.
There has been messaging about fast starts and keeping 15 players on the pitch yet England did neither. They have failed to score in the first quarter since they played Wales and two of their most experienced forwards, Itoje and Sam Underhill, ended up in the sin-bin at the same time.
Personnel changes for Paris seem immaterial. France must win to secure the title and they will be playing with fury after their Grand Slam bid ended in Scotland. England could swap Smith for George Ford or Marcus Smith but it will count for nothing if they are reading from the same script. Attack coach Lee Blackett is known as someone who fills his players with confidence yet the body language this weekend suggests his input has been limited.
Some of the messages from the camp have been jarring. ‘If that game ended at 60 minutes, you’d say that was an unbelievable performance by England,’ added Earl, whose impressive individual displays have not reflected the collective.
England found themselves in a similar position in 2018, when they finished fifth in the Six Nations. Jones turned things around to reach the World Cup final in 2019. Borthwick must do the same as he prepares for Tests against France, South Africa, Fiji and Argentina.
Each player who walked through the interview zone on Saturday night expressed their support for their under-fire coach. ‘100 per cent,’ said Earl. ‘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. We 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 if anyone’s letting Steve down, it’s us. 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.’
Actions speak louder than words and Borthwick had a three-hour train journey to digest the RFU’s statement. It felt like an ultimatum. Drastic improvements are needed if he is going to give England a shot at gold next year.