2026’s display was far from the best Six Nations that England have had, with a shock loss to Italy and a tight battle against France not going their way being the final blows in a tournament that saw them romp against Wales in the opening week.
After being named as one of the pre-6N favourites, England would end up finishing fifth and looking a distant way off the level that France, Ireland and Scotland displayed throughout the tournament.
The routine review process conducted by the RFU after every international period is now underway, and it is unknown how safe Borthwick’s position is with England—but a statement has come out about it.
Chief executive Bill Sweeney wants the ‘right support mechanisms’ in place before final Borthwick verdict
In a recent media session, RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney announced the plans for deciding the direction of England’s international future, and how they would make decisions surrounding the situation:
“There is a lot of noise out there.
“You’ve got to take emotion out of the equation. You just look at it purely in terms of: What was the performance? What were the issues? Why did they arise? And how do we fix them?
“I see the outcome being for us to make sure we have got the right support mechanisms in place to address them and support Steve [Borthwick] to get that right going forward.”
Specifically on Borthwick’s future with England, Sweeney said:
“We’re in the middle of the review, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to start talking about [the future of Borthwick with the team] right now, but we’ll get to the bottom of all of [the factors involved].”
In terms of any replacement, rumours have been floated that a swoop for Ireland coach Andy Farrell may be in the works.
England’s next couple of fixtures are against South Africa and Fiji, with the form shown in the Six Nations hoping to be remedied in the Southern Hemisphere against a tough Springboks side and the Pacific’s strongest nation at time of writing.
