Steve Borthwick would not be drawn on his future. Facing the media before England's Nations Championship trip to Fiji in Liverpool, the head coach batted away every question about his job with the same line.
"The conversations I have with the RFU are private," Borthwick said.
England arrive at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday under real pressure. A 45-21 defeat to South Africa in the tournament's opening round extended a losing run to five, and a sixth would leave Borthwick's position increasingly hard to defend. He insists his focus has not wavered.
"When this team doesn't perform the way we want, we feel the hurt and pain that our supporters feel," he said. "All I focus upon is this Saturday ... that's all I ever did as a player and that's all I do as a coach."
His response to the Springbok rout has been evolution, not revolution. Henry Slade, overlooked for the Six Nations, returns at centre alongside Seb Atkinson. Tommy Freeman shifts to the wing, his club position at Northampton, after an experiment at outside centre, and Guy Pepper comes in at openside. Three uncapped players are named among the replacements: prop George Kloska, centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg and wing Noah Caluori. Henry Pollock, again, is left on the bench.
Borthwick was warmer on the newcomers than on his own security. On Caluori, he said: "With a player like that we need to make sure we give him the opportunity to do what he does as well as anyone in the world."
Not everyone shares his patience. Fin Smith, England's fly-half, described the side as "soft defensively" after the South Africa loss, a candid assessment from inside the camp that Borthwick did not rush to reject.
The sharpest verdict came from outside it. Ben Youngs, England's most-capped player, did not spare the current group.
"Yesterday, it felt like men vs boys. It really did," Youngs said. "The bit that alarms me is the gap between England and South Africa hasn't got smaller, it has got bigger and it got exposed yesterday."
Youngs was careful not to pin the collapse on a lack of talent. "I look at the pack and I think that's a damn good pack. Yet they looked like boys compared to South Africa," he said. "As soon as the Boks needed changing one gear up, England couldn't live with them at all in terms of gain line, physicality, skill level, the actual cohesion."
His prescription was pointed. "The only way you close that gap is by being tactically really sound, defensively very good, execute a gameplan and do your best to make the game a close contest. England also fell short tactically."
Fiji, beaten in round one, are no soft landing. They have troubled England before and will fancy the physical exchanges that exposed the hosts against the Boks. Borthwick, at least, is talking up the occasion, England's first men's Test in Liverpool.
"It's fantastic to be playing at Hill Dickinson Stadium, which is an outstanding venue," he said. "There is a real passion for rugby across the north of England, and we're looking forward to experiencing a brilliant atmosphere in Liverpool."
Win, and the noise quietens for a week. Lose a sixth in a row, and those private conversations with the RFU may not stay private for long.
