Steve Borthwick: England head coach under the spotlight after another late defeat to Australia

England’s turbulent year under head coach Steve Borthwick continued on Saturday against Australia.

A myriad of reasons have been mooted as being behind England’s dysfunction under Borthwick – not least the departure of numerous members of an expensively-assembled and fantastically-talented coaching staff.

Without some of his key lieutenants, Borthwick’s team have fallen to late defeats against New Zealand and Australia in the autumn internationals and the team has four wins from 10 Test matches in 2024.

Should they lose either of the forthcoming games against Japan and South Africa, that would mean England would be sitting at five wins from a dozen matches across the year. That is the very same record that saw Eddie Jones dispensed with less than two years ago.

However, it is not the record itself, but rather the nature of how England find themselves in this position – and also how the fans at Twickenham (who voted en masse with their feet, leaving Allianz Stadium right after the concession of the late Wallabies try) are feeling about it.

Borthwick’s side were the architects of their own downfall once again and saw a 12-point advantage midway through the first half turn into a 10-point deficit with little over 20 minutes remaining, before squandering a late lead twice more after they had moved back ahead in the closing minutes.

England skipper Jamie George criticised England’s leaky defence – they missed 35 tackles against Australia – and pinpointed frailties on that side of the ball as the main reason for a loss that has heaped pressure on the team.

“Leaking 42 points at home is unacceptable and a large part of that is down to loss of collisions,” the captain said.

“Australia got front-foot ball and they have got pretty good players out wide who made us look vulnerable.

“We are very proud in our defence. We massively believe in the system that we have but there are going to be some clips that will be difficult to watch because we needed to be more physical and make our tackles.

“Sometimes in a Test match like that you think the job is done. We took our foot off the gas. Credit to Australia, they were very good, but we cannot keep doing that.”

George suggested it will be a tough one to watch back – and he was not lying. It appears the departure of defence coach Felix Jones, who handed in his resignation in August, has hit England hard.

The nature of the departure was sudden. Jones was reported to have made his decision because of an “unstable working environment” under Borthwick.

Now, some England fans are calling for the Irishman – considered one of the best defensive minds in the game after his spell winning back-to-back World Cups with South Africa as part of Rassie Erasmus’ staff – to replace Borthwick following this latest capitulation.

Such an eventuality would certainly provide a cruel irony for Borthwick, who chose to focus on individual mistakes in his comments after the Australia clash.

“It’s a game we should have won. We were in a position to win multiple times,” he said.

“When you turn over that much ball and make the game that unstructured against a team with that much pace, you’re giving them opportunities. We gave them far too many opportunities.

“Every England supporter and every England player or anyone associated with the team is gutted right now.”

With a record of just 13 wins in 26 matches and without a victory to speak of against Scotland, France, South Africa, New Zealand or Australia, Borthwick is still searching for solutions to win the biggest of matches.

What’s next?

England will look to return to winning ways and claim their first win of the autumn on November 16 when they face world champions South Africa at Allianz Stadium (5.40pm), while Australia face Wales at the Principality Stadium on November 17 (4.10pm).