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The buildup to a fixture between England and Ireland has not truly begun until someone mentions the C-word, so step forward Steve Borthwick to name his side for England’s daunting Six Nations opener in Dublin two days early and officially set the hare running.
It is getting a little tired now but the narrative goes that Ireland can boast a level of “cohesion” that is the envy of the world while England are a mishmash, thrown together from nine different clubs and trying desperately to get on the same page.
That Ireland are their first opponents only heightens the supposed contrast. Maro Itoje, who is just over a week into his tenure as England captain, has taken it upon himself to encourage members of the squad to stand up in front of the rest of the group and bare their souls.
“A big aspect of this week or so since we have been here in camp is getting to know one another and that’s been really important,” said Borthwick. “This is a squad that hasn’t been together a long time. There is a great contrast between where we are and the Ireland squad which has been so stable for so many years. We’re ensuring that we get to know each other really well.”
It goes some way to explaining why Borthwick has resisted any temptation to carry out surgery on his side, sticking with Marcus Smith at fly-half as one of 10 players who started the last November Test against Japan. The return of Alex Mitchell was a given while Luke Cowan-Dickie and Freddie Steward are selected due to injuries elsewhere. The two most eye-catching selections are Ben Curry – and how better to achieve cohesion than selecting an in-form flanker to play alongside his twin brother – and Cadan Murley who makes his debut. Murley is best friends with his Harlequins teammate Smith, the two are thick as thieves off the pitch, have a telepathic understanding on it and given Smith’s instinctive idiosyncrasies can sometimes be hard for his teammates to follow, it is a significant selection. In much the same way that Smith and Joe Marchant would link up to impressive effect before the centre became ineligible after moving to France, so Murley will now be asked to dovetail with the mercurial fly-half.
“I know his tells, the amount of rugby we have watched together, how we have played the game, we used to put it up on our big TV and watch the game back: ‘What do you think here, what do you feel here?’” said Murley. “I have got a good understanding of him and he has got a good understanding of me. He just knows where I am going to be, he doesn’t have to look sometimes, he knows I will be ready, nice and flat for a cross-field kick and he knows I will be nice and flat for him.
“The first time I saw him was at a Bristol tournament all the southern teams go to. That is the first time I remember seeing him, this little Filipino kid with unbelievable footwork putting people through holes and thinking ‘He is going to be pretty good’ and he was. I thought follow him around and you are probably going to get on the end of something as a winger and that is hopefully what I will be doing this weekend.”
It is less easy to understand Borthwick’s selections on the bench. As much as England’s defence wobbled after the reins were handed to Joe El-Abd during the autumn following Felix Jones’s resignation, the inability to see out the final quarter of matches was their biggest problem in the autumn.
Truth be told further back than that, if you include the two summer Tests in New Zealand, and it was telling to hear Borthwick highlighting how the international retirement of Danny Care has denied him someone of crucial experience among his replacements. Why, then, has he opted against selecting either George Ford or Elliot Daly, who have made 172 Test appearances between them, among his replacements in Dublin?
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Maybe it was just that he is carrying a cold but there seemed almost a hint of resignation from Borthwick that his callow replacements – they have just 81 caps between them, which is fewer than Itoje alone – can only learn from experience. Ireland are favourites for Saturday’s match by any metric but there is a suspicion they have plateaued, yet there was an absence of bullishness to Borthwick. Perhaps it is just indicative of the pessimism that pervades given England’s run of six defeats in their past eight matches but there felt like a hint of pre-empting another gallant loss to go with those in the second half of last year. Certainly there were no proclamations that victory is within England’s grasp.
“It’s what I feel is the right team for this game,” said Borthwick. “These experiences that the team has to continue in its development. From an age point of view, this team has a maturing process. What we need to do is accelerate these experiences, the lessons for them and ensure we are better and stronger going forward. I think this is the right team for that.
“Ultimately, you just need to get experience into the players and maximise that. Sometimes there is no easy way of doing that. I know we’re playing against an Ireland team this weekend that might have 1,100, 1,200 caps. That’s where they’re going to be. I’m still excited by the team we have.”
