Jonny May is backing Steve Borthwick to crack the code of rugby after describing England’s head coach as a “genius” in the mold of Alan Turing and Mr Spock.
England went out on their shields in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final defeat by South Africa, losing 16-15 to a late Handre Pollard penalty, having dominated the reigning champions until the final quarter.
A heroic performance was the culmination of Borthwick’s opening 10 months in charge, having been parachuted in with the short-term objective of making the team competitive at France 2023.
He succeeded by devising a statistics-based approach that almost dethroned the world champions, leaving May to conclude England are in the best possible hands.
“We’re starting to see what a genius Steve is in terms of how he’s starting to get this team going,” May said.
“You won’t find a harder working man than Steve and his approach to the game is a little bit like Alan Turing.
“If anybody is going to crack the code to rugby it will be Steve – he’s getting ever closer each week and good luck to him.
“He’s got an analytical brain and an evidence-based, scientific, Spock-like approach to the game.
“I’ve learned a lot from him. I’ve been very grateful for all the coaches I’ve had throughout my career and I’ve absorbed everything I possibly can, always trying to learn and be curious.
“But Steve, with his ways, he’s on to something. He’s a young coach and has this unique and different way that he goes about the game.
“Cracking it is not something I’m interested in doing as the game gets more complicated each week, but he’s obsessed with it so hats off to him.”
While England can look ahead with optimism, May strongly suspects that their future does not include him.
The nation’s second-highest try scorer of all-time behind Rory Underwood will almost certainly have played his last Test at this World Cup, Friday’s bronze match against Argentina his final opportunity to pull on a Red Rose jersey.
The 33-year-old wing was only called up to Borthwick’s squad because of an injury to Anthony Watson, yet he has been a regular starter and was outstanding against South Africa, even winning a jackal penalty.
“Never say never, but very much in my head now I’m thinking, more than likely that I’ll be done after this,” May said.
“For me no regrets, what a journey, I wasn’t even going to be on the plane at one point.
“But I stuck in there and that’s the attitude across the team – we stick in there, we’ve had pretty much everything thrown at us, but we’re starting to find ourselves.
“I’m grateful to have been a part of it and although it probably won’t continue after this World Cup, I feel like I’m connected to this team. It’s making my hairs stand up now a little bit.
“To be connected like that, to be close to the boys and have those relationships, to go through these times with these friends of mine, is incredibly important to me.
“It’s been everything to me, playing for England, just absolutely everything.”
'What will be, will be' – Gatland will respect any decision on Wales future
Warren Gatland accepts his future is out of his hands after Wales suffered a record-setting defeat to Australia.
Wales were hammered 52-20 by the Wallabies in Cardiff on Sunday, as Australia scored eight tries in their biggest ever away win over the Welsh.
It marked an 11th straight Test defeat for Wales, who face world champions South Africa in their next outing.
Wales are on their worst ever run of defeats, and Gatland knows there is plenty of negativity around his coaching.
"It's the most challenging time I've ever known as a coach and what will be, will be," Gatland told TNT Sports.
"I will chat to a few people as to what happens from here.
"I am passionate about Welsh rugby but there's a lot of negativity around the game right now and we want to make sure what happens is the best for Welsh rugby, not about me. I will respect the decision."
Gatland is in his second stint in charge of Wales, having led them for 12 years between 2007 and 2019, leading them to four Six Nations titles.
Yet Wales have been abysmal as of late, and were dispatched by an Australia team that were reduced to 14 men for 20 minutes of the second half.
"It hurts. We got ourselves back into the game, but to me, we're a man up and conceded three tries - 21 points - that's really disappointing," he added.
"From our point of view, we had a chance to put them under pressure, we probably just forced things - [conceded] some turnovers, some penalties, so that was disappointing.
"I felt we had the chance to get ourselves back into it and kind of just shot ourselves in the foot.
"We spoke about it at half-time, some momentum, go out there and be accurate, we'll get some opportunities and when we play with tempo and keep the ball we look good.
"[Conceding] 21 points with a man advantage, it's not often that happens."
Wales prop Gareth Thomas told S4C: "We're all very disappointed after that. We came into the game with a lot of energy, everything was in place coming into the game. We had confidence with the coaches.
"Our discipline let us down and we're very disappointed. We've let ourselves down. They were down to 14 men and we couldn't take advantage."
Australia's Tom Wright capped off his hat-trick just before full-time, and he was keen to highlight the Wallabies' dominant display.
"That was an awesome 80-minute performance," he told TNT Sports. "Ebbs and flows, we gave a lot of momentum to Wales at stages, we made it difficult for ourselves, but those are games you like to be a part of.
"There was a lot of ball in play, Wales were really up for the content and really made us earn all those points."
Wales 20-52 Australia: More misery for Gatland as Wallabies run riot
Tom Wright and Matt Faessler plundered hat-tricks as Australia cruised to an emphatic 52-20 win over struggling Wales in Cardiff.
Wright capped off a superb individual display in the closing minutes of Sunday's clash to take the Wallabies over 50 points at the Principality Stadium.
It is a defeat that will only increase the pressure on Wales coach Warren Gatland, whose team have now lost 11 straight Tests, their worst-ever run.
Wright and Faessler claimed six of Australia's eight tries, with Nick Frost and Len Ikitau also going over for the visitors, who were 19-0 up early on before Wales responded through Aaron Wainwright's try and Gareth Anscombe's kicks.
Wales were unable to take advantage of Samu Kerevi's second-half 20-minute red card for a high tackle on Jac Morgan, as Australia scored three tries in quick succession, with Faessler getting two and Wright adding his second.
Ben Thomas crossed for the hosts, but Ikitau and Wright had the final say for Australia, who have Scotland and Ireland to come in their next fixtures.
Data Debrief: Record losing run reaches new low
Wales' 11-match losing run is the worst in the nation's Test history, and it is now a long way back for Gatland.
This was Australia's biggest-ever away win over Wales, who now face the daunting prospect of facing two-time reigning world champions South Africa next week.
Should Wales lose to the Springboks, they will have gone an entire calendar year without a win for the first time since 1937.
Borthwick concedes 'these are painful days' after Springboks defeat
Steve Borthwick was left "incredibly disappointed and frustrated" following England's defeat by South Africa, conceding "these are painful days".
England suffered their fifth successive Test loss after going down 29-20 at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts were quick out of the blocks with Ollie Sleightholme crossing on his first international start, and led 20-19 in the second half.
However, a Handre Pollard penalty and Cheslin Kolbe's second try of the game settled the contest in favour of South Africa, who then stubbornly defended their lead during a late England surge.
Borthwick's side have now lost three consecutive home games for the first time since 2006, but he hopes these experiences will benefit his players further down the line.
"I am incredibly disappointed and frustrated," he told BBC Radio 5 Live. "You see so much good' the way the team came out of the blocks at the start and came at South Africa.
"Then, for a long time, the game was toe-to-toe, but in the last period, we failed to take our opportunities. How many times did we fail to take our chances in their 22?
"These are painful days. At times, we are putting ourselves in positions to win games, and we are not converting them. Whilst these are painful, we will use them in a positive way to help with our development.
"We have a lot of young players that have come into this team, and we have accelerated their transition.
"As you look towards the future, these players are going to be brilliant international players. But, right now, these days of development are tough. We will persevere and be better because of these experiences."
Borthwick is adamant England are "going in the right direction", and believes he still has the backing of the RFU.
"I'm not going to be talking about private conversations here, but what’s actually more important is the feeling I get," he added.
"The feeling I get from the RFU is one of absolute support and absolute belief that this team is going in the right direction."
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