England ‘staying in the fight’ in Six Nations victories – Borthwick،
England head coach Steve Borthwick praised his side's determination after their 16-14 victory over Wales at Twickenham on Saturday, as they remain unbeaten in the Six Nations.
Just like in Rome against Italy on the opening weekend, England were not perfect but found a way to win.
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The visitors held a 14-5 lead at the break as England faced another uphill battle, but Borthwick was pleased with the courage his side showed to fight back and close out a nervy final ten minutes.
“I think the first thing to take away is that there is a team here that stays in the fight and finds a way,” Borthwick said in a post-match press conference.
“The biggest lesson here is the quality that players develop in themselves, which is to stay in the fight.”
Borthwick was pleased with the way England corrected themselves in the second half after giving away six penalties in the first half to put themselves under pressure.
“It’s disappointing, we had a 6-0 penalty score at halftime and two fouls,” Borthwick said. “In the end, after enduring all that at 37, 38 minutes, it was 7-5 and could have been 7-all.
“We only conceded one penalty in the second half, so we conceded eight penalties last week and seven this week, which is in line with the targets we discussed.
“It was Maro Itoje who set the target of 7 penalties this week. Maro set the target and the players achieved it.”
The England boss was not drawn to the most controversial moment of the match, when Wales turned away George Ford's conversion attempt after Ben Earl's try.
“We are well aware of the situation in the first half, we are well aware of that decision,” Borthwick said.
Captain Jamie George made it a point before the match to lift the atmosphere at Twickenham, and while he was pleased with the support they received, he admits his side must continue to improve to giving fans something to cheer about.
“I loved it, I loved every second of it. From the gate to the final whistle, walking around, the fans looked like they had a good day. At the end of the day, that's what we wanted to do.” , George said.
“Did we want to perform better on the pitch? Sure, but you'll have seen enough press conferences where teams were saying 'we could be better'.
We felt a lot of pride and noise coming from the stands. That's what we like.”
While England won their first two matches of this year's tournament, Wales return home after another narrow defeat but with plenty to show.
“It's really disappointing. I'm proud of the players' performance and effort, but we're disappointed not to get the win,” Wales coach Warren Gatland said.
“It's part of the journey we're on in terms of developing as a team. I said to the players in the dressing room that we must be disappointed by this, we put ourselves in a position where we should have won this game .”
Gatland has pleaded with Welsh fans to be patient with his inexperienced squad as they rebuild after the loss of several key players.
“I told the players that we are not there, but we are going to be a very good team in the future. And today was part of that process in terms of learning how to manage the game,” he said.
“I'm really proud of this effort. My message to the Welsh public: have a little patience. I hope people outside can see what we're trying to do as a team.”
