If supporters want transparency, they won’t find it in the rubber-stamping of Steve Borthwick’s coaching team
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here has been a lot of fuss in recent days about French TV directors not giving rugby fans the full picture. In that particular department, sadly, there remains a runaway market leader. To say the Rugby Football Union’s public response to England’s disappointing Six Nations campaign has failed to supply all the relevant angles is an understatement.
In an ideal world, there would have been a media conference with Bill Sweeney, the RFU’s chief executive, alongside Steve Borthwick, his head coach, presenting a united, purposeful front and outlining precisely why the status quo needs preserving despite England having racked up four championship defeats for the first time since 1976. Instead, there was only a “Don’t tell ‘em, Pike” statement on email best summarised in four words: “Nothing to see here.”
There are drawbacks with this approach, the primary one being that England fans are not stupid. “England’s underperformance across the Six Nations was not the result of a singular failure or issue,” read the RFU statement. Blimey, does that imply multiple failings? In which case, in a high-performance environment, you might not expect the entire management team to be rubber-stamped in their roles through to the next World Cup.
