Steve Borthwick lashes out at ‘personal attacks’ on Owen Farrell’s ‘character’as the England head coach reveals his disappointment over the saga

Steve Borthwick has unleashed a torrent of simmering outrage as the England head coach lashed out at what he denounced as ‘personal attacks’ on Owen Farrell.

A few hours after arriving in the Irish capital and calling a match day 23 where his captain was not present, Borthwick vented his feelings about a week of turmoil and another week.

After seeing Farrell avoid further punishment in a disciplinary hearing, only to receive a second one after World Rugby appealed the verdict amid global backlash, the man in charge of the national team struggled to keep his emotions in check to hold.

This is a man who is normally quietly understated, but he was clearly boiling as he examined the wreckage of his best plans for the World Cup.

Borthwick didn’t resort to raising his voice, but the expression on his face told the whole story. England fans may have enjoyed how a difficult situation brought out a more powerful and candid side of Borthwick’s nature, rarely seen in public anyway.

Borthwick (centre) dropped Farrell from his Ireland squad for the ‘pre-season breach’ as ​​the England captain waits to see if he will be penalized after an appeal

Without waiting for inevitable questions about Farrell’s disciplinary story, he plunged into the subject, saying: “With regard to the ongoing disciplinary matter with Owen Farrell, unfortunately given the disruption to his week and the interference with his preparation, I have made the decision . to take him out of the team he would otherwise have led this weekend.”

It was a pertinent first point to bring up, as the RFU’s official team announcement statement went to great lengths to emphasize that Farrell would have played here.

At the new hearing next week, it will play a role if he is found guilty of an offense that warranted a red card. England will hope and expect the Irish encounter to count for a ban.

Next came the indignant part of Borthwick’s speech, as he said: ‘I find the situation really disappointing. We thought we had made a decision on this matter on Tuesday. It had an impact on the disruption this week and now it will continue into the next week of testing.

“The situation with the England team and Owen in particular seems to be aggravated.

“The commentary around it seems to be shifting from a tackle issue to personal attacks on the man’s character, which I think is just wrong.

“I think Owen has behaved through this process in a very respectful manner. We respected the process and thought we had reached its conclusion. We will continue to respect the process and the decision made. Now we look forward to Saturday’s game.’

First and foremost, the anger from Borthwick and within the English camp as a whole seems to stem from the massive opposition to the decision that saved Farrell from suspension.

They are outraged by what is considered a toxic fallout lead. However, Borthwick’s reaction also indicated frustration at World Rugby for stepping in to clear up the whole controversy. So the Red Rose anger is aimed at pundits and media and those in power.

Asked if he could understand why Farrell is a subject for such vitriol, Borthwick said, “You’d have to ask the people who write the commentary on this. I think it moved from a tackle and a split second decision to commentary around his character. It’s wrong. He is a teammate of the players, he is part of our squad and he is the captain of our squad. We all feel for him. We feel it when someone from our group gets these personal attacks.’

Borthwick (right) says Farrell’s (left) ‘personal attacks on the character’ are flat out wrong

A meticulous planner and organiser, the national team manager is furious that the proceedings will have created a huge hole in his World Cup countdown by jeopardizing the involvement of his captain and primary playmaker.

Borthwick was asked if some of his anxiety reflected how the disruption could drag on into next week ahead of the final warm-up against Fiji at Twickenham.

With a date for the next hearing still to be confirmed, he said: “It starts next week. The last two testing weeks of our preparation for the Rugby World Cup will be disrupted by this.

“One of the oldest and most experienced panels dealing with these matters dealt with it on Tuesday. They went through the entire hearing procedure and arrived at an answer.

“We thought that was the conclusion and now the situation is another panel is being convened to try and find some holes in what was done on Tuesday. What we’re going to do again is behave in a way that respects the process and in the meantime we’re going to concentrate on playing against Ireland – the number 1 in the world – on Saturday.’