Rugby: Borthwick's Captaincy

With the autumn internationals approaching, journalist Stephen Jones has questioned Martin Johnson’s continuing faith in Steve Borthwick as England captain, and his place in the second row. In doing so he has suggested a list of better candidates for the position, but has missed the point about those candidates and about Borthwick’s captaincy.

Steve Borthwick is neither a world-beater as a player or as a captain, but he is reliable and rarely looks out of his depth. A team should aspire to more from their captain than reliability, but right now there is a dearth of suitable candidates. The England team is in the middle of a generational shift, and although it would be nice to put the team in the hands of a dynamic young captain to take the team forward in the long run, in the manner of Will Carling in 1988 or Lawrence Dallaglio in 1997, none of the potential candidates are in a position to take on the role.

England is suffering from a lack of quality second rows at the moment. Nick Kennedy is promising, and Simon Shaw is outstanding, but Shaw is 36 years old and injured. Meanwhile Tom Palmer and Louis Deacon have not quite developed into the players that they promised to be, whilst Ben Kay’s decline since 2003 is one of the less remarked upon subplots of England’s demise since then, despite solid performances for Leicester last season.

Jones lists Phil Vickery, Tom Rees, Mike Tindall, Jonny Wilkinson, Nick Easter and James Haskell as better bets for the captaincy. All of those candidates are probably more talented than Borthwick, and in an ideal world would be strong contenders. However in reality, there are problems facing most of those listed.

Vickery, England’s captain in the 2007 World Cup probably only lost the job subsequently because his place in the side was under increasing pressure from Matt Stevens, and he was regularly being substituted for the Bath prop, including in the World Cup final. With Stevens now banned for two years, the Cornishman is again in a strong position. However, he is injury prone, and at 33, Johnson would need to be happy that he was going to make it to New Zealand in 2011. Nonetheless, he remains the best alternative to Borthwick.

Rees appears to have world-class talent and leadership qualities, but has consistently struggled with injuries, and his current layoff means that he will have missed all of England’s games in 2009. Should he put return to fitness and establish his England spot, he would be a bold pick to take the team forward, but until that point he remains out of the frame. Haskell, his former Wasps teammate, needs to establish himself ahead of Tom Croft, who significantly outplayed him last season.

Tindall and Wilkinson meanwhile, possess experience, leadership, and are world class players, but again, the spectre of injuries casts its shadow. It would be unwise to make either captain; Tindall is not guaranteed of a place in the side, and Wilkinson has not played for England since 2008. Many forget that his last run in the team came when he was dropped for Danny Cipriani, and it would be foolish to appoint a player who has proven unable to stay fit for more than a few games at a time.

Nick Easter is the last of Jones’ candidates. He seems likely to start in the autumn, has been first choice in his position for a couple of years now and has plenty of rugby and life experience. He also appears to be a strong leader at Harlequins. His captaincy experience at the professional level is limited, and the suspicion remains that a more talented athlete, such as Haskell, Luke Narraway or Jordan Crane may eventually supersede him, but he remains in pole position to start at number eight for the next twelve months at least.

There are other long term candidates: Dylan Hartley has started his captaincy tenure at Northampton well, but needs to win the hooker’s spot from Lee Mears and prove himself on the international stage. Andrew Sheridan is a guaranteed starter, and although he does not appear the captaincy type, Johnson himself proved that quiet, retiring personalities can be successful captains. To develop into a contender however, he needs to start dominating his opposite numbers, and making more of an impact around the field so he can lead by example, as Johnson did. Finally, Tom Croft emerged as a world class flanker last season, and if continues to grow into international rugby, he will warrant consideration, but for now, he needs to hold off Haskell and focus on his second season of international rugby.

Coming back to Borthwick, it is clear that of his rivals, only Vickery and Easter are credible alternatives. Should Vickery have a strong autumn and stay fit, he may make a better captain, with Easter close behind. For now however, Borthwick’s place in the side is not really under threat thanks to a lack of competition, so Johnson has, perhaps understandably, opted for stability. Once the team is more settled, things should change. For now however, Borthwick is England’s reality.