‘There are going to be mistakes as you’re trying to build a team like this’: Steve Borthwick admits England will have to endure pain after his tenure started with a defeat to Scotland
Steve Borthwick admitted England will have to go through some pain after his first match ended in defeat in the Calcutta Cup against Scotland.
Duhan van der Merwe scored twice – including one sensational solo score – as the visitors won 29-23 to kick start the Six Nations.
It is the first time ever that Scotland have won back-to-back matches at Twickenham and their third consecutive victory over the auld enemy.
‘I’m clearly disappointed with the result,’ said Borthwick, who has had just 11 days with his side since taking over from the sacked Eddie Jones. ‘We were 20-12 up and in control of the game, we shouldn’t let the game go away from us and we did… this is part of the growth of a team. Sometimes you have to go through some pain. You don’t want to.’
But the head coach added: ‘There are going to be mistakes as you’re trying to build a team like this.’
Steve Borthwick admitted England will have to go through pain after their loss to Scotland
England came from behind to lead at half-time thanks to two fine tries from Max Malins which cancelled out scores from Huw Jones and Van der Merwe – who beat five England defenders on a run from his own half.
Ellis Genge’s try, eight minutes into the second half, stretched England’s lead before Scotland fought back through tries from Ben White and Van der Merwe, who won the game with six minutes left.
Borthwick stated there has been growth in the team but there will also be difficult moments
‘I thought the team responded incredibly well – if you rewound a bit, the team wouldn’t have reacted the way it did today,’ Borthwick said.
‘Scotland were very good, they didn’t get an awful lot of chances but the ones they got, they took ruthlessly.’
The coach added: ‘We saw some growth – particularly in the attacking side of the game… I said we’d use every minute we possibly could and I think we did that. Credit to the players for how hard they’ve worked.’
England have now lost their opening game of the past four Six Nations. They must bounce back against Italy next weekend.
Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie insisted that his team cannot let their display go to waste
‘This for me is the first step,’ Borthwick said. ‘We’ll make sure, in eight days’ time, we’re back here and a better team.’
Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie saluted his team’s performance but said they cannot let it go to waste like in previous years.
‘It’s just the start, we’re delighted to win and retain the Calcutta Cup, but we’ve been in this position before and not backed it up,’ he said. ‘Come Monday we will start again, ready to go.’
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