Talks from Vincent Kompany, England’s back-row conundrum and ‘more personal’ Steve Borthwick

BAGSHOT — In their quest to hoist themselves back up into the elite group of rugby nations at the forthcoming World Cup, England have turned to one who knows. Vincent Kompany, who managed Burnley’s instant return to Premier League football last season, has given Steve Borthwick’s squad the rundown on how he did it.

Kompany switched to coaching with Anderlecht in 2019 after a trophy-laden career as captain of Manchester City before joining Burnley in 2022. At Borthwick’s invitation the former Belgium defender schooled an England team currently ranked sixth in the world in the “intensity” he learnt under the City boss Pep Guardiola, as well as how to spot weaknesses in players and improve them.

Borthwick’s decision to bring Kompany to England’s Surrey training base last week, 52 days before the World Cup kicks off in France, sent a clear message to everyone from potential bolters to possible slackers.

“It was really interesting,” Ben Earl, the England and Saracens flanker, said on Tuesday. “He (Kompany) got this slideshow out and showed us a pre-season fixture that he wasn’t happy with, a review on that and the stuff he hangs his hat on.

“The links between the two sports, and certainly his environment and this (England) environment, are exactly the same in terms of the messages he wants, the intensity he requires his players to bring. It resonated really highly to hear that from someone we’ve all watched play at the highest level for a number of years, and picking his brains about Pep, players reaching their potential and not reaching their potential.

“We have spoken about getting better, we’ve spoken about making sure we are the fastest-learning team at the World Cup, the most mentally strong team at the World Cup. The standard we train at is the highest I’ve been involved in (and) I know that’s shared across the board. It’s been physically demanding, but it’s been physically smart so we’re not training for the sake of training, we are training with a purpose, which can’t be said for every environment everyone has ever been in.”

Earl was in blistering form during Saracens’ run to the Premiership title at the end of May, but the 24-year-old was dropped by England after winning his 15th cap as a replacement against Italy in February. He knows he has fierce competition for a place in France, with only a friendly against Wales in Cardiff on 5 August before Borthwick announces his 33-man World Cup squad two days later.

Tom Curry, Lewis Ludlam and Jack Willis are front-runners for the flanker spots, with Tom Pearson among the up-and-comers. The 2019 World Cup star Sam Underhill is said to be still in contention despite being jettisoned last week.

“I like to think I’m one of the quicker forwards we’ve got available,” Earl said. “If I can use that speed, ball in hand or without the ball, that’s always going to help.

“The amount of experiences the back-rowers have had this year is unbelievable. Jack Willis won the Top 14, Lewis Ludlam captained his club, Tom Pearson could have been player of the season (for London Irish) in the Premiership and then you have Billy (Vunipola) and Alex Dombrandt, who have unbelievable international experience.”

Earl has been mates with the England opening batsman Zak Crawley since their schooldays. Crawley, fresh off his innings of 189 in the fourth Ashes Test, has been another to offer useful guidance.

“He (Crawley) has been very stoic in what he has been going after in the messaging from up above, and he’s stuck to his game plan, which I can really resonate with – not trying to mould myself onto someone else or trying to be a different type of player. If the shoe fits and it’s your day, you’ve got to cash in.”

The day of the squad announcement must be ringed in red in the minds of all the England players, and they are happy Borthwick will be delivering the good or bad news in person. “With Steve it has been very much more personal, and that’s been great,” Earl said. “Players have enjoyed not staying up late at night waiting to ‘be added to a WhatsApp group, which I know a few people have experienced (before Borthwick). That has been a really nice change.”