Borthwick: No panic – we’re still learning

STEVE BORTHWICK insists he is not ready to rip up his England team ahead of their titanic clash with Ireland in a fortnight.

Several combinations, including the midfield and back row, failed to gel at Murrayfield but Borthwick is set to give most of them another chance.

The England head coach has several options, such as starting Chandler Cunningham-south at flanker instead of Ethan Roots, or bringing Manu Tuilagi in at centre.

But the boss will not throw the baby out with the bath water as he bids to rescue England’s Six Nations campaign.

He said: “There is a balance through this period of giving the players the time to develop and the time to understand the relationships that are required.

“And also for us to develop as a team, while dealing with injuries and bumps and bruises.”

Social media was flooded with disgruntled English fans panning their performance and travelling fans in Edinburgh were in a dark mood on Saturday night after their trouncing (Duhan van der Merwe goes over for his first try, below, and celebrates his hat-trick, above).

Under pressure Borthwick added: “I would share the feelings of all the supporters. That was not good enough.

“No one ever goes on to the pitch wanting to make a mistake.

“But there were too many mistakes. I will look at our preparation and what led to that.”

George Ford insists that England can upset the Irish back-to-back Grand Slam march.

The 30-year-old (inset below) said: “We’re back home at Twickenham. We know they’re an unbelievable team, but we’re going to back ourselves to play well and get the result.

“Let’s not talk too early about only winning a couple of games.

“We expect to be winning the majority, if not most, games in the Six Nations, of course we do.”