Scotland beat England for the fourth successive time in the Six Nations
The weight of the England shirt felt heavy on the players after losing to Scotland, according to head coach Steve Borthwick.
England lost 30-21 to their old rivals at Murrayfield in the third round of the 2024 Six Nations. It was the fourth consecutive time Scotland had won the Calcutta Cup. The last time they had beaten England four times in a row was in 1896.
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Borthwick has said results will come but that the defeats were taking their toll on players.
“Continuity in selection is one very important factor and as we build this team, as we go forward, it’s an important factor for consideration,” he said. “We know in the Scotland game there were errors. It was probably the first time in a while I’d seen the weight of the shirt feel heavy on the players.
“We have worked around that and worked to develop that. We made some errors and when we made the errors we started playing differently. You saw the way we started was how we intended to play but as you start getting away from the plan of how you want to play, it leads to more errors.
“Now I have made a couple of changes to the team but I believe in these players. I believe they are determined to put in a performance this weekend. I have sensed that determination ever since the end of that Scotland game because there was disappointment. A lot of players were disappointed with how we had gone. We all were.”
England’s fixtures do not get any easier for the rest of the tournament. They play Ireland on Saturday, who are on track to win back-to-back Grand Slam titles.
Their final game of the competition is away to France. The French have not been in the best form but they have the players to pull out a good performance.
Despite being the underdogs heading into their clash with Ireland, captain Jamie George says the team are focused on getting a result. “We have got to make sure we are very clear on what we want to do and we have got a lot of respect for Ireland,” he said. “But at the same time we have got a very clear plan on how we want to try and beat them.”
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