Category: Rugby

If Steve Borthwick is to emulate Thomas Tuchel he must fully embrace the attacking talent which tore Fiji apart

Next year Steve Borthwick would love to be where Thomas Tuchel is now. A World Cup semi-final in prospect, an entire nation transfixed and a team with another gear in it. Swap Atlanta for Sydney and Jude Bellingham for Henry Pollock and the same essentials will be required: big-match players, smart man management and the absolute belief that decades of disappointment can be overcome.

Tuchel and his staff even paid a visit to their rugby counterparts in March, albeit in the week the latter lost against Italy in the Six Nations for the first time. Borthwick has long been interested in how England-based coaches deal with the sheer weight of expectation and has spoken to a number of Premier League managers on the subject.

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England bounced back in style with an 11-try victory over Fiji in Liverpool

2 mins. A single carry before Van Poortvliet sets up the caterpillar ruck to box-kick to touch for a zero nonsense start from England. This is not the case from Fiji from the lineout as Tagitagivalu spills a simple tap off the top; presenting England a scrum that promptly results in penalty against Mawi.

Caleb Muntz chips through the shimmering summer air deep into England territory.

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Team head to Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium to face Fiji needing to avoid a sixth straight defeat, with eyes on debutants Van Rensburg and Caluori

England’s men venture north to play international rugby union so infrequently that their Nations Championship fixture against Fiji is a newsflash in itself. It is more than a decade since the north-west last staged a union Test and approaching 30 years since the England coaches Steve Borthwick and Richard Wigglesworth, among others, had their youthful sporting ambitions sparked by watching England at Old Trafford and Huddersfield respectively in the late 1990s.

So even in the dog days of July, with temperatures nudging 30 degrees celsius and Merseyside feeling more akin to the Med, this particular game is significant even before England’s recent five-game losing streak is layered on. Get it right and Borthwick can head to Argentina for the final leg of this summer’s magic mystery tour with some pressure relieved. Get it wrong at Hill Dickinson Stadium and a hard day’s night looms.

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• Janse van Rensburg, Caluori and Kloska to make debuts

• Head coach: ‘My conversations with the RFU are private’

Steve Borthwick says he and his players are also feeling “the hurt and pain” caused by England’s losing streak but has sidestepped questions about his job security if his team are beaten by Fiji on Saturday. The head coach has not tasted victory since early February and will come under significant external pressure should his side slip to a sixth successive Test defeat at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium.

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• Uncapped back set for Nations Championship call-up

• Squad aims to bounce back at Hill Dickinson Stadium

England’s rugby players could be forgiven for wondering which way is up. On Sunday they were in South Africa, next Monday they will be in South America and they are now in sub‑Saharan Surrey preparing to face Fiji in Liverpool this Saturday. Ironically it is warmer in Bagshot this week than it is in Suva, albeit with fewer coral reefs and fresh coconuts.

Regardless of the rotating backdrop, though, there is no ­disguising the lingering disappointment of the 45-21 defeat against the ­Springboks in Johannesburg last weekend. ­Victory at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium would not repair everything overnight but there is widespread ­acceptance within the camp that they need to rebound strongly on Saturday.

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