Steve Borthwick has insisted he has nothing to hide about his England setup and believes his players are empowered to speak up after claims from Danny Care that Eddie Jones’s regime was like “living in a dictatorship”.
Borthwick spent more than four years as Jones’s assistant but sought to distance his environment from that of the Australian’s after the former England scrum-half’s portrayal of a toxic culture raised serious questions over the Rugby Football Union’s safeguarding procedures. The World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward has described it as “astonishing” that Jones’s contract was renewed by the RFU.
Over the summer, the head of strength and conditioning, Aled Walters, and the defence coach, Felix Jones resigned within days of each other, evoking memories of the churn of staff under Jones. Care wrote in his autobiography that Jones’s staff “ended up as shells of their former selves” due to the treatment they received.
Numerous players, meanwhile, have implicitly criticised the environment created by Jones, explaining how they feel far more comfortable expressing themselves in Borthwick’s setup. The head coach remained tight-lipped over Care’s comments but was adamant his players are unafraid to challenge him.
Starting XV George Furbank (Northampton), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter), Ollie Lawrence (Bath), Henry Slade (Exeter), Tommy Freeman (Northampton), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath); Ellis Genge (Bristol), Jamie George (Saracens, capt), Will Stuart (Bath), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Martin (Leicester), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Tom Curry (Sale), Ben Earl (Saracens).
Replacements Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale), Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Dan Cole (Leicester), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), Harry Randall (Bristol), 22) George Ford (Sale), 23) Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton).
“I’m trying to create an environment that is right for this group,” said Borthwick, who left Jones’s setup in 2020 and was appointed as England head coach in December 2022. “I finished with England very early in 2020 and now we’re here in 2024 and my focus and attention is on this team now and the environment I want to create.
“You can ask players, assistant coaches whatever you want to ask them about the environment. It’s almost on a daily basis I’ll be chatting with players and bouncing ideas around and then things get moulded, adapted and improved.
“In this campaign we’ve had a notable step forward in terms of the players speaking in team meetings, sharing their opinions. It’s a sign of the growth of this squad. I’ve asked the senior guys to model their behaviours and they have been really supportive of all the younger players.”
Care wrote “everyone was bloody terrified of [Jones]” and has since expressed some regret for not speaking up at the time. “Remember what it felt like when someone was being bullied at school and you were just glad it wasn’t you?” he wrote. “That was the vibe.”
The RFU has said no formal complaints about Jones were made and Borthwick detailed how closely he is monitored by the union’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, and the director of rugby, Conor O’Shea. “Bill and I speak every week either in person or on the phone,” Borthwick said. “Bill was in camp last week and he’ll be in camp at the end of this week. Conor was in yesterday, spent half a day in camp.”
The England flanker Tom Curry, who was handed his debut by Jones as a teenager in 2017, said he did not have a problem with the Australian’s methods but did suggest Borthwick takes a different approach. “[Danny has] released a book and I can only give my opinion,” said Curry. “Personally, I was OK.
“I had a lot of respect for Eddie. He brought me in when I was 18. He worked me hard but I always understood where he was coming from and I thought he tried to get the best out of me. Steve is really good at understanding the downtime and then getting you right up in the training.”
