Steve Borthwick has admitted England players are disappointed and gutted following their dramatic defeat to Australia at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts were leading with just minutes to go, only for their fierce rivals to snatch victory at the death following a try from Max Jorgensen.
England have, for the second week in a row, crashed to a narrow defeat.
It was a similar story against New Zealand last weekend, who edges proceedings at Twickenham with a 24-22 win of their own.
Steve Borthwick has admitted England players are disappointed and gutted following their dramatic defeat to Australia at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon
PA
Borthwick, speaking to TNT Sports, has admitted he’s frustrated with the result.
And the England coach have revealed his players share his hurt, having some so close to claiming victory.
“I think it’s tremendously disappointing, it’s gutting,” he said.
“Everyone will be gutted by that today, as am I, as am all the players.
“I think unfortunately if you make that many numbers of errors, I think it was seven unforced handling errors, 20 turnovers in total, you give the opportunity for the opposition to run into spaces and score tries.
“And they did.”
When asked how he can teach elite players to be more clinical, and to make less mistakes, he added: “I think in terms of the mindset we’ve been trying to develop, it’s one when England players go out to attack the opposition.
“And I think we have. You see the team do that, you’ve seen a team want to move the ball – which England haven’t recently had that mindset.
“The flip side of that is you understand the consequences of it.
“If you turn over the ball, this side’s good and you can see the pace they have. They took their chances very well.”
England star Jamie George has also discussed the result.
And the 34-year-old shared the frustrations of his coach while admitting that his side must cut out the sloppy errors in order to turn things around.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
- Michael van Gerwen makes position crystal clear on trans star Noa-Lynn van Leuven ahead of darts match
- Carl Froch says ‘it’s in the contract that Jake Paul can’t lose’ ahead of Mike Tyson boxing fight
- Rugby fans vent fury at national anthem decision for England and Australia clash – ‘Very disrespectful’
Steve Borthwick feels England were unlucky to lose to Australia on Saturday
PA
“I think the blueprint of how we wanted to play was in the first 20 minutes,” he said.
“We put Australia under a lot of pressure. Sometimes in a Test match like that you think the job is done.
“We took our foot off the gas. Credit to Australia they were very good tonight but we cannot keep doing that, it will be a tough one to watch back.
“It is a fine balance between closing up shop and trying to see out the win rather than attacking. We talk about being brave and courageous and that [Maro Itoje] try was exactly that. We will look at being better.
Steve Borthwick’s England side crashed to defeat against Australia on Saturday
PA
“The system and the principle all works. We know it works but we didn’t quite get what we wanted out if it.
“Tonight, it was the collisions. Leaking 42 points at home is unforgiveable. They got front foot ball and then have some pretty good runners outside.”