Steve Borthwick ready to pass his fit and proper leader Tests

Chris Jones
26 Oct 2009

Saracens 21-15 Leeds

Captain Steve Borthwick led Saracens back to the top of the Guinness Premiership and then called on his injury-ravaged England squad to show resilience in the face of their latest serious set-back.

The weekend saw two more players join the lengthy England casualty list, with Leicester prop Julian White tearing a hamstring and Harlequins No8 Nick Easter damaging his calf.

White could miss the entire autumn Test series, while Easter believes he could be out for between two to four weeks. Which is bad news for England as Australia arrive at Twickenham on 7 November, to be followed on successive Saturdays by Argentina and New Zealand.

Borthwick said: "This is where we will see what strength in depth we have in England. We can't feel sorry for ourselves and need to be very strong as a group and use this situation as a motivation.

"We are facing a major challenge in these three Test matches and need to be resilient."

Borthwick linked up with England last night after helping Sarries to a less than impressive 21-15 win over struggling Leeds.

While Borthwick is enjoying success at club level, he must now focus on the England cause, for which Martin Johnson will today name a revised squad for the impending clashes at Twickenham.

The lock, who is still battling to win over those who doubt his credentials to captain England, has received the timely backing of his club boss Brendan Venter, with Sarries' director of rugby insisting he would like "15 Steve Borthwicks in my team".

For his own part, England boss Johnson has lost at least a dozen first-choice players to injury and is happy to have just one fit Borthwick to call on.

The captain said: "The fact is that Martin Johnson has selected me as a player and captain. I will take his judgement over other peoples'. I have a great relationship with Brendan and have learned a huge amount from him in a short space of time."

Borthwick also believes that his experiences at Saracens can help him at international level, and added: "We have our knockers as a club who want to bring us down and I am used to that. The team always comes first and Brendan has talked a lot about selflessness. As an England team, those values are also important. Johnno worked really hard in this area and by the end of the season we were a galvanised group.

"You learn from every experience and I will continue to do that throughout my career.

"I was tested last season and as a team we were found wanting in the autumn but we became a formidable side in the Six Nations and played some excellent rugby, finishing the season very well against Argentina."

London Wasps, in third, lost centre Dominic Waldouck, another player with genuine England ambitions, to a fractured cheekbone as they recorded an excellent bonus point 35-6 win at Gloucester while Harlequins, now up to eighth, held on for a much needed 26-22 win at Worcester.

Second-placed London Irish bounced back from their loss to Scarlets with a deserved 18-12 victory against champions Leicester.