Ex-England fly-half Stuart Barnes has denounced the RFU “ostrich policy” that resulted in them awarding a contract extension to Steve Borthwick rather than firing the beleaguered coach.
The English this year endured their worst-ever Six Nations but rather than taking decisive action and recruiting a new head coach, their post-tournament review instead gave Borthwick a vote of confidence.
That backing has now been steeled by the past week’s confirmation that Eddie Jones’ former assistant has had his RFU deal stretched out to the end of the 2027/28 season so that England don’t have their 2027 Rugby World Cup preparations distracted by having their head coach out of contract when that tournament in Australia ends.
It’s an unexpected development that has angered Barnes, the 1990s international whose hard-hitting punditry for The Times newspaper carries great weight. The former Bath No.10 has been a long-term critic of Borthwick and England’s inconsistent results with the ex-second row at the helm.
“Failure…”
Having won 12 matches in a row, 2026 was touted as the year that genuine success would be achieved. However, their attempt to win a first Six Nations title since 2020 was an unmitigated disaster, featuring another loss to Scotland, a battering at home to Ireland and then an embarrassing first-ever defeat to Italy.
England ripped up the conservative Borthwick approach to produce an unexpected competitive performance away to France, but the malaise returned when hammered away to South Africa at the start of the Nations Championship.
The July campaign was rounded off with wins over Fiji and Argentina, but no one expected this would be followed by a contract extension taking Borthwick through to the summer of 2028.
It’s a decision that left a sour taste in Barnes’ mouth and he pulled no punches in his latest column on England rugby’s under-performing head coach.
“A brave but ugly defeat in the condition-levelling rain of the 2023 World Cup semi-final against South Africa might just be the highlight of his [Borthwick’s] four years,” wrote the peeved columnist.
“All those matches between the last World Cup and the next one. The Six Nations disappointments of 2024 and 2025, and the collapse this year. There have been a couple of unlucky defeats and a few flukes. Judge England on results, or performance, and the overall assessment is the same. Failure.”
He added: “England have become a second-tier Six Nations side. The loss to Italy was not unexpected; the losses to Scotland are regular events. And the style of the team – or lack of it. Only against France in this year’s Six Nations did England reveal a balanced attacking game, and by then the pressure was off, with nobody expecting a side with three losses from four to beat France.
“Lo and behold, they threw caution to the wind and scared the title-seeking French. The most apt phrase was, ‘Flash in the pan’. England should have sacked their head coach before the France game with its rare lightning bolts. Instead, Borthwick continued.
“His side were thumped by South Africa and he wasted the opportunity to field fresh faces against Fiji. The Argentina game was an ugly mess and now, here we are, on the verge of a new season with the manager’s contract extended.”
A furious Barnes went on to hammer the RFU for its reaction in sharp contrast to New Zealand Rugby, who unceremoniously ditched Scott Robertson at the start of 2026 and replaced him with Dave Rennie. “What a glaring contrast with New Zealand,” reckoned Barnes. “Scott Robertson – a little like Borthwick – lost too many games and the All Blacks showed too few signs of improvement.
Why All Blacks and France are built to stay with the Springboks, whilst England trail behind
“Irrespective of the fourth Test in Baltimore on Saturday night, the All Blacks have stamped themselves as 2027 contenders under Dave Rennie. They are playing a completely different, more ‘optimistic’ brand of rugby under their new coach.
“To dump Robertson and replace him was decisive management. To say, as Conor O’Shea did, ‘This England team is unequivocally one of probably five teams who can win the World Cup next year’, makes little sense, in either grammatical or rugby terms.
“New Zealand acted ruthlessly after losing to England brought an end to a disappointing year in terms of performance and results. England seem to have an ostrich policy of wait and see.”
Accusing RFU high-performance chief Conor O’Shea of burying his head regarding the leagues-above level of rugby produced by the Greatest Rivalry series with the Springboks defeating the improving All Blacks 3-1. O’Shea recently claimed on a podcast that “this England team is unequivocally one of probably five teams who can win the World Cup next year”.
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Barnes concluded: “We have rarely seen England’s ‘best version of themselves’ and we haven’t a clue as to how the team will arrive at this utopia, bar on a bloody great dollop of blind faith.
“New Zealand acted in their moment of crisis. All England have done is ignored the evidence, delayed the day. Under Borthwick, there has frequently seemed to be an excess of paralysis by analysis.
“Still, agree or disagree, it is better than key decision-makers at the RFU making unjustifiable claims regarding England’s World Cup hopes, secure in the knowledge that the reason for the failure to act in 2026 will be forgotten come the spring of 2028.”
READ MORE: Ex-England star accuses RFU boss of having ‘blinkers on’ following Steve Borthwick backing