Steve Borthwick says England players are free to speak following bombshell Eddie Jones claims
After shocking claims were made against Eddie Jones, England’s coach Steve Borthwick says he is running a friendlier environment for players.
England coach Steve Borthwick has claimed he’s created an open environment where players are free to challenge him, after accusations from players that former coach Eddie Jones ran the team like a dictatorship.
Borthwick, who was Jones’ assistant coach for England from 2016-2020, then took over when Jones was sacked in 2022, distanced himself from allegations that players and staff were so scared of Jones they became a shell of themselves.
The allegations have been made by halfback Danny Care in his recently released autobiography, and Borthwick was asked about the issue upon announcing his squad for the game against the Wallabies this week in London.
“I’m trying to create an environment that is right for this group,” Borthwick said.
“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 that “everyone was bloody terrified of (Jones)”.
“Remember what it felt like when someone was being bullied at school and you were just glad it wasn’t you?” Care wrote. “That was the vibe.
“When I look back at it, that’s the sad thing. How can an environment that should be the best of the best, how can it be like that, when everyone is so scared of the guy at the top that you can’t have a conversation with him? Any day you look at him wrong or someone says the wrong thing, and he could just blow.”
World Cup-winning England coach Sir Clive Woodward questioned how Jones had been allowed to continue in the role given the allegations, but the RFU has said no formal complaints were made about the Australian, who quit as Wallabies coach last year to join Japan.
Borthwick said he is constant contact with RFU chief Bill Sweeney and director of rugby, Conor O’Shea, suggesting that he is being monitored more heavily than Jones was.
“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.”
England flanker Tom Curry said he had no issues under Jones’ coaching methods.
“[Danny has] released a book and I can only give my opinion, personally, I was OK,” Curry said.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Borthwick has named an unchanged starting XV from the team that lost to the All Blacks 24-22 last weekend, only swapping centre pairing Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence’s positions in the midfield.
After using a 6-2 split on the bench last week, Borthwick has opted for the more traditional 5-3 style, bringing in utility back Ollie Sleightholme as cover.
England host the Wallabies at Twickenham on Saturday (Sunday 2.10am AEDT).
England: 1. Ellis Genge 2. Jamie George 3. Will Stuart 4. Maro Itoje 5. George Martin 6. Chandler Cunningham-South 7. Tom Curry 8. Ben Earl 9. Ben Spencer 10. Marcus Smith 11. Tommy Freeman 12. Henry Slade 13. Ollie Lawrence 14. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso 15. George Furbank.
Replacements: 16. Luke Cowan-Dickie 17. Fin Baxter 18. Dan Cole 19. Nick Isiekwe 20. Alex Dombrandt 21. Harry Randall 22. George Ford 23. Ollie Sleightholme.
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