England Rugby confirms support for Borthwick until World Cup — The Guardian
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has confirmed its support for England head coach Steve Borthwick ahead of the Rugby World Cup, which will take place next year. RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said he sees no scenario in which the coach would be replaced regardless of England’s results this month, The Guardian reports.
In September, Borthwick’s contract was extended until the end of the 2028 Six Nations Championship. According to Sweeney, the decision was made so that the coaching staff could focus on preparations for the World Cup without being distracted by questions about their future. At the same time, the team has suffered five defeats in its last seven matches, while its performance in this year’s Six Nations was England’s worst.
Support after the Six Nations
After England’s first-ever defeat to Italy in March, the RFU gave Borthwick conditional support and called for improvements in summer Test matches against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina. England subsequently suffered a heavy defeat to South Africa, thrashed Fiji and secured a narrow win over Argentina.
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England are third in the Northern Hemisphere group of the Nations Championship. Discipline remains one of the team’s problems: since the start of 2026, players have received 14 yellow cards and one red card. Sweeney noted that after the Six Nations, the RFU conducted a detailed review of the team’s performance, which identified areas for further work.
Smith returns to training
England also received positive news regarding Fin Smith ahead of the autumn series of matches. The 24-year-old fly-half, who had been recovering from a calf injury, successfully completed training on Wednesday and may be available for the match against Australia. The final decision will depend on his condition over the next 24 hours and at the next training session.
Smith started England’s previous five Test matches and has established himself as Borthwick’s first-choice fly-half. In the autumn campaign, England are also due to play Japan and New Zealand, as well as contest a ranking match during the final weekend of the first Nations Championship.
