Steve Borthwick reveals key mindset shift that inspired shock England win over Ireland

Steve Borthwick has urged his England team to continue to stay true to themselves and his gameplan after a statement victory over Ireland at Twickenham.

Borthwick’s side secured a shock win over a side described as the “best in the world” by their head coach ahead of the game to deny Ireland a shot at an historic second consecutive Six Nations grand slam.

It was best performance since Borthwick took over as head coach at the start of 2023, with England the better side for large periods of the game and holding their nerve at the end as Marcus Smith’s drop goal secured victory in the final moments.

It was a vastly improved showing from the Calcutta Cup against Scotland a fortnight ago, when the coaches were frustrated that the players deviated from the gameplan.

But encouraged by how England kept playing even when under pressure and forced Ireland away from their gameplan, Borthwick praised his side for remaining in the battle even when things weren’t going their way.

“The team went through a difficult experience at Murrayfield,” Borthwick explained. “At Murrayfield, I thought we made a mistake and then went into ourselves, played a little bit small.

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“The players made mistakes and they tried playing safer and by playing safer you end up playing riskier because we haven’t trained that. We haven’t trained like that, so suddenly you’re doing something in a Test match that we haven’t trained. Tonight they didn’t – they made errors and got into the next battle. If there is anything I can encourage the players to do, it is go into the next battle.

“We’re going to make errors but do it the way we want to do it. And that’s okay because then we know what’s going to work and what’s not going to work. If we do something completely different, we don’t know if the original plan is going to work or not. What pleased us today is that the players go out and just tried to bring all their strengths onto the pitch.”

England will need Ireland to slip up against the Scots on the final weekend to have a chance at pipping them to the title with a win over France in Lyon.

Regardless, a signature win at home represents a significant step forward for Borthwick, who had overseen a record defeat to France and first ever loss to Fiji at Twickenham during his first year in charge.

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While strong foundations were built on their run to the semi-finals of the World Cup, the former lock believes that the win should help convince his players to “trust” him as he seeks to turn England into one of the best sides in the world.

“The players trust in you is really important. It’s vital,” Borthwick said. “If they don’t trust you, it’s so difficult.

“There was a fair spell through 2023 where we were working on relationships to try and develop that trust. I think what is important for players is to get visible, tangible results. I have been showing them the progress they are making, showing them the evidence, but sometimes it is hard to see it, especially when everything is played out under such scrutiny.

“That’s why it is important to get tangible results. My job is to reinforce that, and challenge us to be better next week. I want to keep backing the players. We’re going to get things wrong, and we’re going to have to learn super-fast. And we have to learn super-fast at what we did well and what we can do better because in seven days we’re playing another Test match.”