2027 World Cup: England head coach Steve Borthwick looking to emulate tournament pressure cooker across '20 Test matches' on road to Australia
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By Ben Grounds
Published 03/12/2025 at 19:40 GMT
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For both England head coach Steve Borthwick and captain Maro Itoje, the goal is to win the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Between now and then, both acknowledge the importance of creating the right environment to hone a group of champions to emulate the success of 2003 under Sir Clive Woodward. England will face Wales, Tonga, Zimbabwe in Pool F - and the preparations can start in earnest.
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England now know who they will face as the path to 2027 Rugby World Cup glory was laid out in front of them on Wednesday morning - and head coach Steve Borthwick has outlined how the planning starts now to emulate the 2003 conquerors of Australia.
Pitted against Wales, Tonga and Zimbabwe in Pool F, England will avoid South Africa, New Zealand and France should they top their pool and all three win their respective groups, as expected.
For supporters, the prospect of being reunited with Wales on the biggest stage for the first time since that infamous defeat at Twickenham in 2015 is one to savour.
But for Borthwick, he is not looking that far ahead. Instead, he is relishing what he described as "20 Test matches" between now and the start of the World Cup.
One step at a time, the collective objective is to be crowned champions once more, and in order to achieve that, no stone must be left unturned - even to the point of looking to replicate the pressurised situations they will face along the way.
"This is a process we've accelerated over the last 12 months as part of the development of the team," Borthwick said when asked about creating moments of healthy tension at Pennyhill Park without 50,000 spectators.
"We've got 20 Test matches between now and the start of the World Cup. We want to maximise each, we want to win each and every one of those Test matches, and learn and develop in each one of them.
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"We don't just want to be relying upon only those Test matches, so each aspect of training will have scenario elements within it.
"Off the pitch will have scenario elements within it, which puts the players into situations where they're going to make decisions under certain aspects of physical duress, different types of pressure.
"Of course, there won't be 50,000 people [at training] - we know that - but I think it's still the right thing to do to continue and enhance and accelerate the development of the team."
'World Cups are not won in August'
Now that England know the make-up of their pool, Borthwick has revealed that the final details of the pre-World Cup preparations can be put in place, including who his side will face and when, in order to be tournament-ready.
Firming up those warm-up internationals with a clear structure around the forthcoming camps is essential for any nation with designs on lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy, but Borthwick has plenty of experience on his shoulders, having been the forwards coach for Japan alongside Eddie Jones at the 2015 Rugby World Cup before his move into the England set-up a decade ago.
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Calling on his differing experiences at the World Cup - including his time as a player under Brian Ashton - Borthwick hopes to go one better this time as a coach.
"I've been really privileged and fortunate from a playing point of view," he continued. "2007 had its ups and downs where Brian led the team to the final. Then in 2015 with Japan, where we lost one game in the group and almost qualified to the quarters. Then in 2019, again, we went to the final and obviously in 2023 we lost narrowly in the semi-finals and won the bronze medal.
"I think each of those experiences shows that the margins of games are incredibly small. Each moment is potentially a huge moment that matters as a defined aspect of the game.
"At that point in time, you don't know it's the key moment, so that demands a certain concentration. It demands a certain resilience from the players, and it comes down to getting the detail right, which is where the coaching team needs to help prepare the players to be prepared for that level of detail that is demanded.
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"Each and every team in the World Cup has more time to prepare for it, and that means that each one of those crucial aspects of the game has more preparation time within it.
"So we expect it to come down to just a few moments. World Cups are not won in August, and so what we're going to do is ensure we get the periodisation of that right so the team enters the tournament in the right physical shape and continues to push throughout the tournament, so that it continues to develop, and that's what I sense from the players.
"Every time they come into camp, I sense a team that they want to improve, and I don't think it's going to change."
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Itoje: We've got to take big moments
Borthwick's men have risen to third in the world rankings after a fine 11-match winning streak since losing 27-22 to Ireland in early February.
England will be part of an expanded 24-team tournament with Italy, Australia, Ireland and Argentina all possible opponents from the last 16 onwards.
Captain Maro Itoje highlighted the importance of being ruthless when opportunities arise if England are to finally replicate the success of 2003.
"Ultimately, it comes down to big moments and how accurate and clinical we can be in those big moments," said Itoje.
"I think the progression of this team is that you can see us taking advantage of those big moments more and more, and we want to build on that to make sure by the time we get to 2027, when those big moments come, we're ready to take them.
"Our ambition is to do very well and win this tournament. That's definitely our goal. But to do that, we know we have to make sure we get our preparation right, and the next two years leading up to the World Cup are massive. Rome wasn't built in a day, so we need to build throughout time and make sure we're tracking in the right direction.
"I relish the expectation because the converse would not be ideal. If this England team had no expectation or you played for a team that had no hopes, that's a situation which I don't want to be in.
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He added: "It's all part of the parcel, if we want to go out and do what we want to do, we have to walk that line and welcome whatever comes and if that's part of it [two years of England fan expectation] we have to welcome that.
"I just think the experiences we're going to have from now to the World Cup will put us in good stead. We're not playing bad teams, all the teams we're playing leading up to the World Cup are high quality and teams that pretty much all will have the same level of ambition as us.
"The more experience we have, the more battle-hardened we are, the more opportunities we have to play the best teams in the world. All of those things will put us in good stead."
Watch and stream the Gallagher PREM, Quilter Nations Series and Premiership Women's Rugby on TNT Sports and discovery+
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