Steve Borthwick could turn around England’s win ratio after poor form under Eddie Jones, according to data.
In just his second full season in charge at Leicester Tigers, the head coach achieved an 83% win ratio in the Premiership – a huge increase on the two seasons directly before his appointment, when they won around 30% of their matches.
If he were to carry this form over from club level to the international stage then England should be set for vast improvements.
This came after the RFU announced the change in coaching staff due to results being deemed unacceptable under Jones, despite a series win in Australia.
Borthwick joined Leicester Tigers as their head coach in the 2019-20 season after helping England to the World Cup final in 2019 as the forwards coach.
The 43-year-old had a huge impact with the Tigers, leading them to Premiership victory in his second full season in charge in 2021-22, during which he achieved a league win percentage of 83%.
The previous season Borthwick had the Tigers finish sixth with a 50% win ratio.
Before Borthwick took over the Tigers, finished 11th in both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.
Fans will be hoping that Borthwick can have a similar impact for England as Jones left with just a 62% win ratio after the 2019 World Cup.
Throughout the 2021-22 season, rugby league legend Kevin Sinfield was Leicester Tigers’s defence coach and will fulfil the same role under Borthwick for England.
Sinfield was crucial for the Tigers’ success in his first season coaching rugby union creating a defence which only conceded 52 tries over the season with a points difference of 274.
This represents a huge improvement from previous seasons, in the 2020-21 season they had a points difference of -14 and conceded 62 tries.
England fans will be hoping for a similar effect on the national team after conceding 94 points in just four games over the Autumn Nations Series.
Of those four games they managed just one win against Japan, a draw to New Zealand and defeats to South Africa and Argentina.
Whether Borthwick can bring these impacts into the national team remains to be seen.
On his new appointment he said: “The English game is full of talent and I want to build a winning team which makes the most of our potential and inspires young people to fall in love with rugby union the way I did.
“The hard work starts now and planning for the Guinness Six Nations and Rugby World Cup begins today. I will give it everything.”
Borthwick’s first game in charge of England will be in the Six Nations against Scotland at Twickenham on 4th February.
