On Thursday evening, Maro Itoje sat in a media suite overlooking the clay tennis courts of Roland-Garros. It was the same room where Eddie Jones sat in 2020 and declared his intentions to make England the greatest team the world has ever seen.
Two years later, Jones was sacked, a year out from a World Cup. English rugby follows boom and bust cycles and right now they are at one of their lowest ebbs. Lose in France tonight and this will officially rank as their worst-ever Six Nations. A first Wooden Spoon since the 1987 Five Nations is, staggeringly, still a possibility.
Steve Borthwick’s job is on the line and Itoje rallied his players to show their fighting spirit. Their performance, in essence, will be a barometer of how hard they are willing to fight to save their under-fire coach.
Scotland’s players rallied behind Gregor Townsend and Ireland’s came out to fight for Andy Farrell, after each of them lost on the opening weekend of the Six Nations. This England squad has publicly backed their head coach but their actions speak louder than any on-message words.
Insiders at the RFU insist there will be no kneejerk reaction if England are humiliated by the French but every performance is now under intense scrutiny.
The messaging from England’s camp in Verona has not been what the public wants to hear. The players have talked about doubling down on their kicking strategies, with just one change to the team that lost to Italy for the first time.
Steve Borthwick is fighting to save his job. RFU insiders insist there will be no kneejerk reaction if England are humiliated by France today but every game is now under intense scrutiny
The messaging from England’s camp in Verona has not been what the public wants to hear. The players talked about doubling down on their game plan, after losing to Italy for the first time
Borthwick’s coaching team is dominated by defence-orientated voices to the extent that Ben Spencer struggled to find an answer when asked to compare the attacking influence of Lee Blackett at Bath and England.
Their tactics are risk-averse, turning over opponents with their kicking game and making the game into an arm-wrestle. At times, the ball is treated like a ticking time bomb – better in the opposition’s hands to avoid the risk of being turned over. The danger is that if the ball ends up in the hands of Louis Bielle-Biarrey then England are in for a long night.
The overriding feeling is that England’s players are better than the game plan but if Borthwick does go down, it seems he will do so with his safety-first principles intact.
There are no live discussions about succession planning but the landscape can change quickly. Borthwick is expected to be given the summer Nations Championship games against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina to turn things around but those in power would be neglecting their duties if they are not making contingency plans.
If England’s malaise continues in Paris, the attention will shift to the men in power at the RFU. CEO Bill Sweeney will lead the post-tournament review and, Nigel Redman, director of team performance, will be working out who they could turn to next.
During the Eddie Jones era, Redman led ‘Project Everest’ to identify the next generation of England coaches. He had a ‘war room’ with the name of every English coach, their contract details and their availability. Privately, Borthwick had been earmarked for the job long before Jones was sacked in December 2022.
If Borthwick does not convince the RFU that he is the right man to lead England into the World Cup Down Under, then they must be ready to act quickly. Time is not on their side. The All Blacks have already made their move, replacing Scott Robertson with Dave Rennie, and the clock is ticking towards next year’s tournament.
There is an alarming lack of Englishmen in the ecosystem of Test head coaches. The RFU have a coaching development plan at age-group level but there are few who fall into the ‘super-coach’ category.
Scotland’s players rallied behind Gregor Townsend after their opening-day defeat in Italy – and now find themselves in the hunt for a first Six Nations title
Northampton head coach Sam Vesty is highly rated alongside his director of rugby Phil Dowson – but it would be a kamikaze mission to bring them straight into the England hotseat
The Northampton coaching team of Phil Dowson and Sam Vesty is highly regarded but transplanting them straight into the Twickenham hotseat could be a kamikaze mission.
Ireland boss Farrell must be the RFU’s long-term target but he is under contract with his current employers until the World Cup. He has previously turned down Sweeney’s approaches but the RFU cannot afford to miss out on him again when his Irish deal expires.
In the meantime, should Borthwick’s position became untenable, they must target a head coach with World Cup experience who can build a quick-fix project ahead of England’s Pool F opener against Tonga in Brisbane next October.
Here, Daily Mail Sport looks at the leading options…
Michael Cheika
Age: 59. Nationality: Australian. Current role: Sydney Roosters assistant coach (rugby league). Previous head coach roles: Leinster, Stade Francais, Waratahs, Australia, Argentina, Leicester Tigers.
The Australian should be the leading candidate.
Cheika’s recent experience of coaching Leicester last season gives him an understanding of the complex dynamics of English rugby, and he is a ruthless operator who has enjoyed success with short-term projects.
He steered an unfancied Leicester team to the play-off final in one season and has already received a glowing reference from England and Tigers legend Ben Youngs, this country’s record caps holder.
In 2015, he guided the Wallabies to the World Cup final at Twickenham and is a seasoned operator on the global stage. He would not demand a huge contract buyout from his current role as assistant coach of the Sydney Roosters of the National Rugby League.
Michael Cheika steered an unfancied Leicester team to the play-off final in one season and has already received a glowing reference from England and Tigers legend Ben Youngs
Ian Foster
Age: 60. Nationality: New Zealander. Previous head coach roles: Waikato, Chiefs, Junior All Blacks, New Zealand.
History shows that the All Blacks were wrong to release Foster after the 2023 World Cup, having told him eight months in advance that it would be the end for him, before he led them to a silver medal in France.
His successor, Robertson, lasted just two years in the job and Foster was reportedly asked to re-apply for the role. He was a part of two World Cup-winning campaigns under Steve Hansen and has unfinished business in the Test arena.
Foster has been an advocate for free-flowing rugby, which would be a style shift from the kick-first strategy that England fans have turned against under Borthwick.
Ian Foster led New Zealand to the World Cup final in 2023, and could offer a dramatic shift to the kick-first strategy of Borthwick
Joe Schmidt
Age: 60. Nationality: New Zealander. Current role: Australia head coach. Previous head coach roles: Leinster, Ireland.
Les Kiss is due to take over the Wallabies this year, with Schmidt preparing to take a step back into a consultancy position.
Schmidt is regarded as one of the game’s sharpest tacticians and transformed Ireland’s fortunes between 2013 and 2019. However, there has been some criticism of his teacher-like management style that may not chime with England’s players.
Like many Kiwis, Schmidt was understood to be on a Harlequins shortlist for next season. The role at the Stoop is not a popular position with New Zealanders, who are wary of the club’s management structures after Tabai Matson’s downfall.
Joe Schmidt is regarded as one of the game’s sharpest tacticians and transformed Ireland’s fortunes, while his Australia side performed well against the Lions last year
Warren Gatland
Age: 62. Nationality: New Zealander. Previous head coach roles: Connacht, Ireland, Wasps, Waikato, Wales, British & Irish Lions, Chiefs.
The former Wales coach is living back in New Zealand with his family and working as a consultant for World Rugby.
He was repeatedly linked with the England job over the past decade before he was sacked by the WRU last year. Gatland visited the UK last month, when he made a number of commercial speaking appearances.
‘The greatest thing about the English players is that even when they’re s***, they still think they’re good,’ he said at one of the events, not sounding like a man who has much appetite for a job at Twickenham.
Warren Gatland (left) had Steve Borthwick (furthest right) on his British & Irish Lions coaching team in 2017 – the Kiwi’s recent statements suggest he is none too keen on the England job
The left-field options
Ronan O’Gara has made no secret of his ambitions to coach international rugby but the La Rochelle boss would be a huge gamble for a short-term project. He is a highly-rated young coach who could work as an assistant coach as a trial for a long-term role.
Closer to home, Mark McCall is stepping down as director of rugby at Saracens this summer and has good relationships with Conor O’Shea and Phil Morrow at the RFU, although he also has no international experience.
The RFU could also look to promote from within, in which case Richard Wigglesworth and Lee Blackett would be the leading figures.
The pressure on Borthwick’s shoulders has never been heavier. In Verona this week, Jamie George educated some of his squad about the city’s place in the story of Romeo and Juliet but right now, English rugby’s relationship with the public feels loveless. Time will tell if it ends with heartbreak.
