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.