Inappropriate to discuss Borthwick future during review, says RFU boss Sweeney
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LONDON, March 27 : Bill Sweeney, the head of the RFU, says he still has "absolute confidence" in the England squad after their wretched Six Nations but that it would be inappropriate to discuss the future of coach Steve Borthwick until the conclusion of an ongoing review.
England's one win over Wales represented their worst performance since the tournament was expanded in 2000. After losing to Italy for the first time ever three weeks ago, Sweeney issued a statement giving tentative backing to Borthwick, who is contracted through to the 2027 World Cup.
Asked at a media briefing on Thursday whether Borthwick – who led England to third place at the 2023 World Cup - remains the best man to lead the team into their July matches in the new Nations Championship against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina, he said: "We are in the middle of the review so it would not be appropriate to talk about that.
"The primary focus is to get to the bottom of the issues, and clearly there are some, and we are getting to them already. I see the outcome of that being for us to make sure we have got the right support mechanisms in place to address that and support Steve to get that right going forward."
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The review, which is standard after every major competition, has a panel that includes some people from outside rugby, but its makeup remains anonymous.
"It is a thorough review, it is a real deep dive into it with Steve and the whole coaching team we will draw the conclusions when we have got all the facts in front of us," Sweeney said.
Sweeney said that there had been a lot of expectation coming into the Six Nations on the back of an 11-game winning run and that he was "more disappointed than anyone" with how things unfolded.
"The Ireland game was probably the most concerning, just because of the style and the nature of the loss," he said of the record 42-21 home defeat a week after losing to Scotland.
Asked how he felt as a fan watching it and listening to the obvious disgruntlement of the Twickenham fans, he said: "I am looking at it from a CEO perspective, in terms of why is that performance happening, what do we need to do after that to find out why that happened?"
Sweeney, however, insisted that the prospects for the national team remained positive after improvements in the structure and pathways around it and said the Prem clubs were showing signs of co-operation about the need to give more game time to promising young England-qualified players.
"Taking that talent that comes through at the age-grade level and having that connection with them all the way through to getting into the seniors team I think is really important," he said. "The introduction of the A-team, for example, is a really good bridge and way to manage that talent. That is key, and we didn't have that previously.
"There is another element which is the softer partnership (with the Prem clubs). Making sure that if you've got talent coming through the system, that they are getting games of rugby."
Sweeney was understandably more upbeat when discussing the England women's team as they head into their Six Nations Championship as hot favourites for an eighth successive title on the back of last year's World Cup triumph.
More than 73,000 tickets have already been sold for their Twickenham opener against Ireland on April 11 – a huge record for the tournament after the previous best was the 58,498 who watched the Grand Slam-clinching victory over France in 2023.
"It's great. We're probably going to be up close to that 80 thousand... that's really encouraging," he said.
"The women's game is going really well, not just in terms of the Red Roses and the professional side, but when you go into the community game and talk to clubs and you see the numbers, and you see the number of women and girls coming into the sport for the first time, and what that does for the community game in total, then that's a real positive."
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