Boarding Pass - Steve Borthwick

Name: Steve Borthwick
Club: Saracens
Position: Second Row
International Honours: England (57 caps), England A

There are two schools of thought surrounding Steve Borthwick: the first argues he has been made a sacrificial scapegoat by Martin Johnson - dropped after a dreadful run of results for England to keep the Twickenham boo-boys at bay. While the second believes his omission is deserved for an over-rated player who never should have been given the captaincy let alone for the length of time he held it.

As events transpired, Johnson was given a get-out clause when push-came-to-shove, as he picked up an injury ruling him out of the summer tour.

While away, and in Australia especially, England impressively dominated the scrum and of course beat the Wallabies in their back yard for the first time since their World Cup victory in 2003.

After this historic win, the likes of Tom Palmer and Courtney Lawes who have also impressed so much at their club, cannot be dropped – while Simon Shaw remains as the iconic leader of the Three Chariots after his performances for the Lions in South Africa and evergreen stature.

Every coach who has selected Borthwick has openly admired both his performance and leadership qualities, while most of those who have watched him seem to miss the good work he reportedly does around the field.

Indeed Brendan Venter, after Saracens’ 24-17 win over Northampton at the weekend, praised his captain’s overall contribution to the victory.

It was a shame Borthwick wasn’t able to compete against Lawes at Vicarage Road – his younger compatriot rested by Jim Mallinder as part of the England Elite Performance Squad agreement – but his performance was not as deserving as Venter’s admiration suggested and a long way away from what would be required of a lock donning the red rose on his chest.

When taking the ball into contact he looked half-hearted and often went backwards against the committed Northampton defence - making only four meters during the 80-minutes.

Further, last year’s defeated Premiership finalists seemed to draw their inspiration from the South African contingent of particularly Neil de Kock, Derick Hougaard and Jacques Berger - not their skipper.

And the line-out wasn’t being dominated by Borthwick as much as one would expect based on his reputation.

Chances of going to New Zealand; 6.5/10 – The disappointment of Borthwick’s omission from the EPS squad was intensified as he heard the news while on his honeymoon, but despite this, he isn’t in the international wilderness. He is in the Saxons squad and with an unfortunate yet likely injury inevitably going to occur to one of his competitors in England’s engine room, Borthwick is the next in line to be called up.

Johnson clearly rates Borthwick by making him captain and retaining faith with him for so long, and come September 2011 Borthwick will at least be an experienced option who wouldn’t be intimidated by his surroundings, potentially giving him the edge over someone like Newcastle’s James Hudson or Dan Ward-Smith.

Not bad, hey?

Hougaard's boot KOs Northampton as Saints fall

Saracens vs. Northampton Saints
September 26, 2010
Vicarage Road, Watford

HT: 15-12
FT: 24-17

Saracens extended their winning streak against Northampton Saints and in doing so ended the Premiership’s only remaining 100 per cent record this season, winning at Vicarage Road 24-17.

Last season’s beaten Premiership finalists were the more composed of the two sides who didn’t become overawed by the visitors making the better start to the game, and capitalised with the metronomic boot of South African fly-half Derick Hougaard kicked in difficult conditions,

Saints travelled to Watford without the injured Chris Ashton and rested Courtney Lawes as part of the England Elite Performance Squad agreement and couldn’t recreate the cutting edge and spark which has optimised their exciting performances this season.

Boarding Pass - Jonathan Davies

Name: Jonathan Davies
Club: Llanelli Scarlets
Position: Centre
International Honours: Wales (7 caps), Wales U20s

Over the past seven days the news has all been about a certain Welsh centre – or ‘fly-half’ – but this is going to focus on another – Jonathan Davies.

At just 22 the centre has the raw materials to go far, and will hope if his form at Llanelli continues he can add to his collection of caps he has already begun to amass.

With Henson only performing in front of television cameras for the next few months, and Jamie Roberts out of Wales’ autumn internationals after undergoing wrist surgery, Davies has the best opportunity he could wish for to impress Warren Gatland and make the red 12 shirt his own.

Boarding Pass - David Strettle

Name: David Strettle
Club: Saracens
Position: Wing/Centre
International Honours: England (6 caps), England Sevens

Sometimes a change is good for the soul – and if David Strettle’s first 40-minutes as a Saracen is anything to go by, his move may prove to be the reigniting his career has been looking for.

He scored after his introduction at the weekend against Sale, and some of the pace and strength which won him his first six England caps and the 2007 Professional Rugby Players’ Association Young Player of the Season was back.

But since then, two injuries have hampered his development which saw him miss the World Cup in France and then pull out of the Six Nations a year later, and the fear was another English talent had gone to waste.

The signs from Saracens’ 28-13 victory looked extremely positive for the winger and there were glimpses of his old best. At 27 he is not the spring chicken his looks would lead people to believe and he has an awful lot of competition to wrestle his place back into England’s starting XV.

Though he was selected in Martin Johnson’s Elite Performance Squad, he still has Mark Cueto, Chris Ashton and Matt Banahan to contend with along with the likes of Ugo Monye and Tom Varndell breathing down his neck.

Chances of flying to New Zealand: 7/10 – As long as Strettle stays fit, his jinking running akin to Jason Robinson should see him easily make his long awaited trip to the World Cup. Unlike the more direct and powerful runners also on offer for England, he is a different option which could unlock some of the world’s best drilled defences with his unpredictable lines and squirming knack to find his way over the whitewash.

Southend teach Hinckley lessons about National rugby

Southend continued their perfect start to the season as they again picked up maximum points in a 10-53 victory away at Hinckley.

The visitors were clinical in their attack and devastating with quick offloading out of the tackle to see them run in eight tries to the Leicestershire side’s one.

Hinckley are still awaiting their first win after returning to the National leagues for the first time in 10 years and will not look back on this game fondly as defensive lapses, especially around the tackle area, and being slow to react and reorganise after turnovers proved decisive.

Boarding Pass - Ryan Lamb

Name: Ryan Lamb
Club: London Irish
Position: Fly-Half
International Honours: England U21, England Saxons

With 12-months to go until the World Cup in New Zealand, players across the planet are fighting it out to secure themselves a seat on the plane to the competition.

To begin what will be a weekly look at men who are making a claim and demanding their selection, I turn to London Irish’s Ryan Lamb.

At just 24, the fly-half has appeared to be around longer than his young age suggests while not always enjoying an entirely glowing career - arrested and charged for assault last year before being dropped by his home town club, Gloucester.

He has always showed glimpses of promise but has not been able to put a streak of form together and his kicking has been unreliable. Indeed last year he was not always first choice in the number 10 jersey for The Exiles, often finding himself on the bench behind Chris Malone.

However, under the tutorledge of Mike Catt, Lamb may well have a guide who can transform him into the player he has threatened to be. He has impressed during Irish’s pre-season, especially in Wales against the Newport Gwent-Dragon and continued his form through to the opening weekend of the Aviva Premiership.

Against Saracens at Twickenham, Lamb kicked 13 of his side’s 33 points and provided a perfect cross-field kick for Sailosi Tagicakibau to touch down in the second half. His passing created dangerous opportunities for the free-running and free-flowing London Irish backs, and he wore a cheeky smile of confidence throughout the game as he outshone another contender – Alex Goode.

With the departure of Danny Cipriani to Australia –seemingly knocking the Melbourne Rebel out of England reckoning – there are greater possibilities at 10.

But with the likes of Jonny Wilkinson, Toby Flood, Charlie Hodgson and Shane Geraghty all with more international experience and currently ahead of him in Martin Johnson’s pecking order, Lamb is going to need to put in some very strong performances if he is to break into the side and make his full international debut.


Chances of flying to New Zealand: 3.5/10 – Lamb needs to put months not minutes of form together and hope his attacking play is helped by powerful finishing from the team-mates around him, but he may have to rely on injury and poor performances from his competitors if he is to get his chance.

London Irish staff fear French dominance

Northampton’s appearance as England’s only club in the quarter-finals of last season’s Heineken Cup may be a less of a blip and more of a trend according to London Irish’s coaching staff.

With the wage cap in England topped at £4million a year,Toby Booth is concerned the larger budgets and squad sizes in France will facilitate them to perform more consistently in both domestic and European competitions.

He said: “Dave [Ellis] and I had a little chuckle last week about operational budgets in France compared to the Premiership. There is Bayonne, I believe, who have just increased their budget by €4.3 million - they have increased their budget by the wage gap that we actually work on, so from that point of view it certainly isn’t going to get any easier, and makes things tough.