England know how to win under Borthwick now to handle rising expectations

After 11 victories in a row England will go into next year’s Six Nations as the team to beat

A Six Nations grand slam, plus Nations Championship victories against South Africa and Fiji and England would head to Argentina next July having equalled their record run of 18 victories, in pursuit of a groundbreaking No 19. Sounds simple put like that, but there’s more chance of Steve Borthwick busting his best moves in England’s next viral TikTok video than him entertaining any thought of record runs.

That is not to criticise, because even though Borthwick is allergic to looking too far ahead, doing so would be to get drastically carried away. The point here is that the more England keep winning, and they will enter next year’s Six Nations as the team to beat after 11 on the trot, the more expectation increases.