Six Nations: Borthwick aims for victory in every England game
Borthwick insisted he was not distracted by the job at hand and had received no edicts from his embattled boss about victory targets or belt-tightening.
“At this point before the game, why don’t we go into every game with the aim of winning every game?” Borthwick told BBC Sport.
“That’s what every England fan expects of me and the players and what we expect of ourselves.
“Since I took up this role two years ago I have had nothing but support from the RFU for what we want to do.
“Our focus is on the upcoming Six Nations and how we can get the performance and results we want.”
Borthwick stressed throughout the autumn that the team was progressing, improving and developing their identity, but he made drastic changes ahead of the tournament, Maro Itoje takes over the captaincy from Jamie George.
The reasoning makes sense: Itoye is four years younger than George and is almost guaranteed to play 80 minutes once he joins the team.
But George is one of the most popular players on the team and leads the team at a true level on and off the court. This is a big call.
There will also be a shift in strategy.
Former assistant coach Felix Jones joined from South Africa 12 months ago and introduced a Springbok-style blitz defence.
Just when everything seemed to be coming to fruition, Jones suddenly resigned.
As a result, the defense was a mess in the autumn, although Borthwick also mentioned how many breaches England had conceded against New Zealand in the summer when Jones was on the field.
“To be clear, we are a line-speed team,” Borthwick said.
“I want the team to be able to get off the line and put pressure on the opponent. Will there be changes and slight adjustments? Yes. There will be some differences positionally.”
On the ball, however, Borthwick promised more of the same.
After playing little rugby in 2023, England are open for action in 2024, with Borthwick vowing to stick with an attacking style in 2025.
“This is a team that has grown over the last year and will continue to grow,” he said.
“I feel like what England fans want to see is England continue to move the ball and keep the pace because that’s what gets them out of their seats.”
