The English, who have been going through a difficult period since last year, were “buried a little too quickly”, said their coach, Steve Borthwick, on Thursday, two days before their entry into the 2023 World Cup against Argentina in Marseille.
“I feel like the players feel like they’ve been buried a little too quickly,” he said after revealing his team line-up to face the Pumas.
The XV de la Rose, finalist of the 2019 World Cup in Japan, has experienced complicated recent months between the dismissal of coach Eddie Jones and a failed Six Nations Tournament, marked in particular by a historic defeat against France at Twickenham (53-10 ).
The preparation for the World Cup did not reassure this summer, with two sluggish performances against Wales (a victory and a defeat) and a setback at home against Fiji (30-22). Enough to doubt the ability of the English to escape from Group D against Argentina, Japan or even Samoa.
The criticism “motivates us”, assured the powerful third row Courtney Lawes, who will be captain on Saturday (9:00 p.m.) at the Vélodrome – “a great honour”, he said – in the absence of Owen Farrell, suspended for the first two matches.
“We know that we did not play our best rugby,” admitted Maro Itoje. “The real motivation is to see how far this team can go and how we can show our best side.”
“The team really feels that the tide can quickly turn,” added the second row, according to whom “the best is yet to come” for England.
