Steve Borthwick REACTS to England's DEFEAT to Springboks — England Press Conference

[0:00] Where did you feel that game was lost today? [0:01] Well, I think there was a couple of critical contest episodes, [0:06] one of them clearly being in the air, [0:08] where South Africa did very well with their contestable kicking. [0:12] A huge number of them and one back ball that created opportunity for them. [0:16] You've got to credit South Africa with that. [0:20] They do it very well and they force pressure upon the opposition. [0:22] Once they get into the 22, they are very hard to stop in the opposition 22. [0:28] After you've had discipline during the Six Nations, [0:31] it was very disappointing to see another two yellow cars today. [0:34] Yeah, I think clearly, if you look at that, [0:38] I think the Tommy Freeman one was one where he'd want to lower his height. [0:44] I think unfortunately we see those slight timing errors. [0:48] I don't think you'd regard Tommy Freeman as trying to do anything malicious or reckless there. [0:52] He's just trying to make the tackle and he's clearly apologetic for tackling high. [0:56] The guy Pepe won, well, I think South Africa put players under pressure [1:03] because that's the way they play and they're very good. [1:05] And then you want execution to be at an incredibly high level, [1:09] you want decision-making to be at a high level. [1:11] Some young players will learn from this experience of playing against the best in the world. [1:16] Then you've got to be very, very clear and very clinical. [1:18] Five test defeats in a row, how do you turn it around for minutes with VG Diaries for teams to come? [1:29] Yeah, well, we'll be working, all the coaches and players will be working very hard this coming week [1:34] to play the periods of rugby we played from 17-0 down after 12 minutes. [1:42] And the way led by Jamie, the way the players played tough and worked so very, very hard for huge parts of that game. [1:48] And ultimately, when we came here and scored three tries, another disallowed, [1:52] those are the bits we want to extend, those are the bits we want to play that for 80 minutes. [1:57] Playing against the best team in the world and it doesn't get much tougher than that. [2:03] Whilst it's a painful experience, we'll make sure for the long-term development of the team, [2:08] it's an important development step for us. [2:29] No, my takeaway from it is that there's a game of very fine margins. [2:35] There are some clear things that we need to make sure we get better [2:38] and players, we have to take a lot more responsibility with regards to our discipline, which let us down today. [2:43] But outside of that, there are periods of that game where we put the Springboks under a lot of pressure. [2:50] And I was speaking to their guys, they know they've been in a Test match. [2:54] But what I think, I'm agreeing with Steve when he says, [2:57] we are going to be a significantly better team off the back of this experience, [3:00] with a young team coming here, understanding how we put them under a lot of pressure, [3:06] but also understanding how we then let that pressure get to us a little bit. [3:10] So, as I said, this is going to be a great learning experience for us. [3:14] We're gutted with the result because we genuinely believe that we can come here and win. [3:17] But we're going to rally round, we're going to stay tight and we're going to get better from the experience. [3:21] And we're all excited about getting back to Liverpool and putting in a good performance against Fiji. [3:26] To check on the situation with him, is he OK, firstly? I assume he won't be available for an up-to-down? [3:35] Yep, so he went into hospital yesterday evening with abdominal pain. [3:43] He had surgery this morning on his appendix and he is now still in hospital and recovering. [3:50] I spoke with him earlier on and exchanged messages with him. [3:55] So, he's doing well, obviously disappointed, really gutted to miss the game. [3:59] And yes, you're right with the pronunciations for the next couple of weeks. [4:03] Is he able to fly back with you? [4:05] Not clear as I had it today, but we think he'll be delayed in South Africa to fly back at a later date. [4:13] Jamie? [4:15] First of all, given the perspective of when you were at half-time in that try, just before half-time, [4:22] you celebrated that really hard. Do you feel the game is in your grasp at that point? [4:28] Absolutely. I was incredibly impressed with the character that we showed. The start wasn't good enough. [4:35] Going 17-0 down against Springboks at home is never going to be part of the plan. [4:40] Equally then, the character that we showed and the way that we played from minute 10 to minute 40, [4:46] I thought was the blueprint of how we wanted to play. [4:48] I spoke earlier about the Springboks being under pressure at that stage. [4:52] They were during that period and I've had a brief catch up with a couple of the guys that I know there [4:56] and they felt like they were under pressure. So, of course, we felt like the game was in the balance at that stage. [5:01] We felt like there was a big swing of momentum with that. [5:04] It was just disappointing then that we weren't able to capitalise on the momentum that we had. [5:09] What final margins are? [5:14] I think when we play the game that South Africa wants to play, [5:19] I think it becomes very difficult getting in and out of that kick battle, [5:23] the contestable kicking game that they want. [5:26] You know, when it gets into that cycle, it's very difficult to get out. [5:31] What we did very well from minute 10 to 40 was get out of it and then move the ball [5:36] and put them under pressure with the ball. [5:38] So, you know, there's a few things in and around the contestable kicking game that we can get a lot better at. [5:45] And, look, South Africa have set the benchmark for a long period of time with that. [5:48] So, you know, we, as I said, we are going to be a much better team from the realisation that we need to just fine tune some things. [5:56] But on the whole, you know, there was a lot of good to come out of that game. [6:00] And, you know, it was always going to be tough coming up against South Africa here. [6:04] But at the same time, you know, I think we take away, you know, the overall feeling is frustration. [6:10] Let's take away that, you know, we are able to create some good opportunities. [6:13] And, you know, if we're able to then back that up, you know, we'll be a good team off the back of it. [6:17] Okay. [6:19] We'll take one more. [6:21] Unless we don't know. [6:22] Great. [6:23] Thanks. [6:24] You're welcome.