No guarantee over Borthwick future as RFU review continues

England lost four of their five games, their worst performance since the tournament was expanded in 2000. While a post-Six Nations review is standard practice regardless of how England perform, Sweeney admitted results this year required a "deeper dive" into an "unusual outcome". "Clearly, there are some issues and we're getting to them already to see what needs addressing," said chief executive Sweeney when asked whether Borthwick would definitely be in place for England's matches against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in July.

"I see the outcome of that being for us to make sure we've got the right support mechanisms in place to address them and support Steve to get that right going forward. "We're in the middle of the review, so it wouldn't be appropriate to start talking about that [specific issues] right now, but we'll get to the bottom of all of the them. " Sweeney said that his verdict on Borthwick would not be swayed by the prospect of the next Rugby World Cup, which is 18 months away.

Borthwick took on the job with less than a year to prepare for the previous tournament after the RFU finally lost faith with his predecessor Eddie Jones in December 2022. "I'm not thinking about deadlines and all of that," said Sweeney. "We just really focused on getting to the bottom of what we need to solve.

" While Sweeney said that succession planning for the head coach role continued as normal, just as it did for his own role and that of other executives, he would not be drawn on specifics. Andy Farrell, who has led Ireland to two Six Nations titles and the British and Irish Lions to a series win in Australia since being sacked as England defence coach in the wake of their 2015 Rugby World Cup pool-stage exit, has been linked with a possible return to Twickenham, with Prem side Saracens are also rumoured to be interested in securing his services. "He's under contract to 2027 and the Rugby World Cup," said Sweeney of Farrell.