Steve Borthwick cut a defiant figure after England endured their darkest Six Nations campaign in history, suffering four defeats in a single championship for the first time. The final blow came against France, who clinched back-to-back titles with a last-gasp penalty from Thomas Ramos in a pulsating encounter at Twickenham.
When asked directly whether he was still the right man to lead England forward, Borthwick did not flinch.
"I'm very clear on the direction of the team. Very clear on what we're going to do. We're disappointed with the — we wanted to achieve much more in this championship than what we have done. Clearly disappointed for our supporters. We wanted to give them plenty of things to celebrate. We've been unable to do that. We'll make sure that we do that going forward."
The defeat to France followed losses to Scotland and Ireland earlier in the tournament, a run that has intensified scrutiny on Borthwick's coaching tenure. Pundits have not held back, with one analyst from The Good, The Bad & Rugby predicting the axe will fall.
"So, I think after this championship, you'll probably see another coach gone. The momentum is building on them, unfortunately."
The same analyst offered a blunt assessment of England's trajectory: "You get beat by Scotland, you get absolutely smacked by Ireland. What do you think's gonna happen with the French?"
France duly delivered, though Borthwick was quick to point out that fine margins defined the contest.
"Last year we won very late in the game. It's the nature of the games of England versus France. Two very good sides that go head-to-head and outstanding game of rugby and a brilliant atmosphere here."
Borthwick also took aim at the officiating that he believes has cost England dearly throughout the tournament, citing yellow cards as a recurring problem.
"The yellow cards in this tournament have hurt us. I think if you look at that yellow card, the nature of it, I think that is a very debatable yellow card, as was Henry Arundell's right at the start of the Scotland game, which World Rugby accept it shouldn't have been a yellow card. Unfortunately when a little bit of luck's gone against us on those couple of decisions, but we've got to be a lot better than that."
England conceded 21 points during the yellow card period against France, a stat that underlines the damage done when playing with 14 men at this level.
Despite the grim results, there were signs of life. England showed a markedly more attacking approach in the France match, something Maro Itoje confirmed was a deliberate tactical shift.
"It was deliberate. We knew that was an area of the game that we needed to improve, we needed to get better at — our conversion, converting our territory into points. So it was an area that we've put a lot of focus in and it paid some dividends today."
The Saracens lock, one of England's most influential figures, offered a measured but optimistic assessment of where the team stands.
"We had a tough couple of games and this game, you know, I think we're quite disappointed to lose this one, but I think we showed the spirit of this team. In sport, you often don't want to learn or go through the experiences that we went through over the last four games, but I truly believe if this team's going places, our experiences will learn from it and we'll be better for it."
Looking ahead to England's summer tour to South Africa, where they will face the reigning world champions, Itoje struck a confident tone.
"We just need to attack the game, attack the game as we did. Test match rugby is a tough, tough sport and it just shows you have to be on it and have to be sharp straight from the off. So we'll be better. We'll regroup. We'll take the lessons. There's some big ones for us to learn, but we'll get better."
For France, the championship win was sealed with drama befitting the tournament's finest rivalry. One French player, still processing the emotion, summed up the feelings in the victorious dressing room.
"We just believed till the end and we got that penalty and we all know Thomas's kicking game and we trusted him till the end and he just slashed it. It's lucky for us but England showed up today and it could have been them also. So fair play to them."
The 2026 Six Nations produced 111 tries across the tournament, a figure that underlines the evolution of the modern game toward attacking rugby. For England, the challenge is clear: translate the intent shown against France into consistent results before the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Borthwick's immediate future may depend on what happens in South Africa this summer. For now, he insists the plan remains intact — even if the results suggest otherwise.
