Steve Borthwick admits England are trailing Six Nations rivals

England’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, has acknowledged his team are trailing in the wake of several of their major rivals and need to start finishing games more strongly if they are to be a rejuvenated force in this season’s Six Nations championship and the Rugby World Cup later this year.

While England did manage to secure their first victory under him by beating Italy 31-14 on Sunday, there was a stark contrast between the quality of their performance and Saturday’s epic game between Ireland and France in Dublin. England still have to face both those sides after their meeting with Wales in Cardiff on Saturday week.

Borthwick is not even trying to claim that England, having sacked Eddie Jones in December, are remotely on the same level as Europe’s market leaders. “The standard of those teams is phenomenal,” he said, reflecting on his first fortnight as national head coach. “If you look at them they are strong and we are a bit behind them. I can’t tell you how much but we are behind them.”

England supporters are also being advised by Borthwick that the rebuilding job could be a lengthy one. “I can’t answer that question,” he said, when asked how soon he thought the team could narrow the gap. “I can’t do anything about where they are but we are going to work really hard to catch up as fast as we can. I get the sense that people recognise this is a rebuild and that there is plenty to do here. The players have come through a tough time and I am asking them to do things in a different way.”

Borthwick suggested two weeks ago that, statistically, the England team he inherited were not good in any area and the Italy game has not significantly altered that view. “There are lots of things to improve on. One of my key jobs is prioritising two or three key things each week we need to improve upon. Because if we try and get better at everything we’ll get better at nothing. Our defence and our maul moved forward but there are things that were not good enough.”

England earned their first win under Borthwick against Italy at Twickenham. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Among them is England’s failure to pick up the pace in the final quarter, having allowed a potential victory to slip away against Scotland and then lost the second-half against Italy by 14-12. “We can’t keep letting teams have momentum late in games against us,” said Borthwick. “I really need to understand why it happened and how it happened.” On the plus side Tom Curry and Courtney Lawes are both hopeful of being fit for the trip to Wales, currently without a win after their opening two games.

English professional club rugby, meanwhile, is heading for a fresh row after it was announced that the Championship leaders Ealing Trailfinders cannot be promoted to the Premiership at the end of the season. The club’s Vallis Way stadium has been deemed not to have met this season’s revised minimum standards criteria because it does not accommodate 10,000 spectators.

Ealing were similarly denied last year and have been taking legal advice. They contend the stadium capacity demands are unlawful and that a lack of clarity over the size of the league in 2024-25 currently makes it impossible to invest the sums required to upgrade their stadium or buy the vital “P share” entitling them to an annual share of central funding. Ealing have a fortnight to lodge an appeal against the decision.

Doncaster Knights have been told they are eligible for promotion, but they sit fifth in the table and have no chance of finishing top. Their Castle Park ground has a licensed capacity of more than 5,000, with planning permission to extend beyond 10,000.

The France prop, Uini Atonio, has been cited for the tackle on Ireland’s Rob Herring which earned him a yellow card during Saturday’s game at the Aviva Stadium. Atonio will appear before an independent disciplinary hearing on Wednesday chaired by Judge Mike Mika of New Zealand, with former players Leon Lloyd and South Africa’s Stefan Terblanche also on the panel.