SecondEngland have had a few days’ rest at home to recharge their batteries and are even more agile in their pursuit of a second successive Six Nations title. As Maro Itoje said after Saturday’s win over Wales: “When you win, life gets better – you go home with a smile on your face and your family smiles too Instead of looking at you gloomily.”
Steve Borthwick also gave his players a day at home last week, apparently realizing the benefits a little rest and rest can bring. Many of these players were in training camp for five straight months last year, and it’s not forgotten that Borthwick’s former captain effectively decided months ago that representing England wasn’t worth the trouble. . After all, a giant photo of Owen Farrell still hangs above the entrance to the Twickenham club shop.
The squad is due to regroup at Twickenham on Wednesday but Borthwick gave some senior players a longer break, only to be told everyone wanted to get back together. Such a commitment says two things: first, it’s clearly a happy camp right now; Secondly, despite winning their first two Six Nations games for the first time since 2019, there is clearly still a lot of work to be done.
Recent Test retirements Courtney Lawes and Jonny May joined the dressing room back-slapping ranks shortly after the win over Wales, which only added to the sense of camaraderie within the squad. Both wins so far have been sealed by five points, with Borthwick’s side having managed just four tries in two games and failing to produce enough quality to keep Ireland still in the game. A night for the favorites to successfully defend their title, but England seemed content to celebrate small victories.
Itoje’s crucial tackle on Ioan Lloyd led to Ben Earl’s try on Saturday – locked in by Sam Underhill and Tommy Tommy Freeman’s scrum on the flank – and George Ford expertly measuring 50-22 to give England field position, he soon kicked home the winning spot . Coupled with Freddie Stewart’s aerial dominance, England fell back into the old tactical habits that had taken them to the World Cup semi-finals, and they achieved the pre-match target of seven or fewer penalties set by Itoje Goal-Bothwick’s team went into the first bye week believing the glass was half full.
None of the above hides the fact that their attacking efficiency, especially in the 22nd game, remains frustratingly poor and they once again found themselves trailing at half-time, or so you suspect Wales could have just been a little more street-friendly. Wisdom can defeat your opponent. end. England’s two wins also came against teams they had beaten in the previous two tournaments, only to suffer defeats in three other games to Scotland, Ireland and France – their three rivals .
“Do I think we are making progress? Yes, I think we are growing,” Borthwick said. “I think the team has grown. There are still a lot of mistakes, but ultimately what I’m most happy about is the character that has been developed in this team and the character that the players have shown that in difficult situations they believe they will find a way out and carry on. fighting.”
After Saturday’s win, multiple players repeated the mantra that it was great to see England “keep fighting”, notably having won eight of their last nine games. They have never before overturned a half-time deficit of nine points or more at Twickenham and while 12 months ago the final 20 minutes of the game was a weakness, it is now developing into a strength . It’s not world-class stuff, but again it’s enough to convince the team that they have something worthy of praise.
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“Maybe in the past, when we were down, we tried to chase games too much,” Itoje said. “But what we have to do now is trust our system, trust our players, trust our scheme. We believe that if we do the right things consistently over a period of time, then we will get where we need to get to . That’s what we’re trying to build.”
As Borthwick’s side regroup and receive a presentation from the Former England Players Association on “understanding what it is like to be part of the English rugby community”, their thoughts will turn to Scotland’s game at Murrayfield on Saturday week. England had won just one of their previous six Calcutta Cup games and Borthwick was well aware of the threat posed by Scotland and their fly-half Finn Russell.
“He’s extremely talented,” Borthwick said. “His ability to move the ball, his ability to see space, his ability to control himself and the speed with which he can get the ball to his feet and kick it. His kicking ability is unbelievable and it brings multiple threats, which means a lot of It’s hard to analyze and it’s hard to play against, but we’re going to make sure we get the work we need to do this week.”
