![Steve Borthwick: 'The standard of those teams [France and Ireland] is phenomenal. If you look at them they are strong and we are a bit behind them.' Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/33677PZAPFC3US3JIU4HSEWQMQ.jpg?auth=7b70489be9a8185fc644183f1759a7cbd5451526b6178885e5274df1d71a314e&smart=true&width=1024&height=689)
England’s head coach Steve Borthwick has acknowledged his team are currently trailing in the wake of several of their major rivals and need to start finishing games more strongly if they are to be a rejuvenated force in this season’s Six Nations Championship and the Rugby World Cup later this year.
While England did manage to secure their first victory under Borthwick by beating Italy 31-14 on Sunday, there was a stark contrast between the quality of their performance and Saturday’s epic game between Ireland and France in Dublin.
England still have to face both those sides after their meeting with Wales in Cardiff on Saturday week.
Borthwick is not even trying to claim that England, having sacked Eddie Jones in December, are remotely on the same level as Europe’s market leaders.
“The standard of those teams is phenomenal,” he said, reflecting on his first fortnight as national head coach. “If you look at them they are strong and we are a bit behind them. I can’t tell you how much but we are behind them.”
England supporters are also being advised by Borthwick that the rebuilding job could be a lengthy one.
“I can’t answer that question,” he admitted, when asked how soon he thought the team could narrow the gap.
“I can’t do anything about where they are but we are going to work really hard to catch up as fast as we can. I get the sense that people recognise this is a rebuild and that there is plenty to do here. The players have come through a tough time and I am asking them to do things in a different way.”
This month Borthwick suggested that, statistically, the England team he inherited were not good in any area and the Italy game has not significantly altered that view.
“There are lots of things to improve on. One of my key jobs is prioritising two or three key things each week we need to improve upon. Because if we try and get better at everything we’ll get better at nothing. Our defence and our maul moved forward but there are things that were not good enough.”
Among them is England’s failure to pick up the pace in the final quarter, having allowed a potential victory to slip away against Scotland and then lost the second half against Italy by 14-12.
“We can’t keep letting teams have momentum late in games against us,” said Borthwick. “I really need to understand why it happened and how it happened.”
On the plus side Tom Curry and Courtney Lawes are both hopeful of being fit for the trip to Wales, currently without a win after their opening two games.
- Guardian
