International
Borthwick an ‘obvious choice’, says Johnson
NEW England captain Steve
Borthwick has been backed as a
model player'' to set the rigorous
standards demanded on next
month's New Zealand tour.
Manager Martin Johnson - the
last man to skipper a victorious
England team against the All
Blacks in New Zealand - believes
Borthwick is an obvious choice
for leadership duties.
Bath lock Borthwick is one of
only 13 survivors from England's
2007 World Cup squad who will
head to New Zealand on June 2
for Test matches in Auckland
and Christchurch.
The list of medical absentees
includes established international
players like Jonny Wilkinson,
Phil Vickery, Josh Lewsey,
Simon Shaw and Lewis Moody,
while leading tour contenders
such as James Simpson-Daniel
and Shane Geraghty face summer
shoulder surgery.
But Gloucester backs Iain Balshaw
and Lesley Vainikolo - regular,
if debatable, RBS 6 Nations
selections under former England
head coach Brian Ashton this
season - have been overlooked.
Borthwick, who captained his
country against Italy earlier this
term, will have three members of
England's 50-cap club to lean
on for support - 2003 World
Cup winners Mike Tindall,
Ben Kay and Joe Worsley.
Tindall is back on England
duty for the first time
since he suffered liver damage
and internal
bleeding during
England's Six Nations
opener
against Wales in
February, which
meant he spent
three days in
the intensive
care unit of a
London hospital.
But the squad
also includes six
Test rookies in
London Irish trio
Topsy Ojo, David
Paice and Nick
Kennedy, Harlequins
scrum-half Danny
Care, Northampton hooker
Dylan Hartley and Bristol
prop Jason Hobson.
And Johnson, who misses
the tour in order to be
with his pregnant
wife, has backed 37
t i m e s - c a p p e d
Borthwick's captaincy
credentials.
Johnson said:
He is very
well respected
among the
squad, an established
international
player
and a very good
leader.
He is a model
player the way he approaches the
game, and he was a natural
choice to lead the squad.
But lots of other guys have a
leadership influence on the team.
I think people always put too
much emphasis on who is the
captain.''
Borthwick, who joins Saracens
later this summer, has driven
Bath to within three wins of
achieving a domestic and European
double this season.
And he was on the bench when
England beat New Zealand 15-13
in Wellington five years ago, one
of only two red rose away victories
over the All Blacks from 10
attempts since 1963.
Such a statistic underlines the
degree of difficulty facing Borthwick
and company, even though
New Zealand will be without a
growing overseas-based contingent,
which means England will
not have to worry about the likes
of Byron Kelleher, Chris Jack,
Doug Howlett or Luke McAlister.
England squad: Backs: M Brown (Harlequins),
P Sackey (Wasps), D Strettle (Harlequins), T
Ojo (London Irish), M Tait (Newcastle), M Tindall
(Gloucester), J Noon (Newcastle), T Flood
(Newcastle), O Barkley (Bath), D Cipriani
(Wasps), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), R Wigglesworth
(Sale Sharks), P Richards (London
Irish), D Care (Harlequins).
Forwards: A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), T Payne
(Wasps), M Stevens (Bath), J Hobson (Bristol),
L Mears (Bath), D Hartley (Northampton), D
Paice (London Irish), S Borthwick (Bath, capt),
B Kay (Leicester), N Kennedy (London Irish),
T Palmer (Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), J Haskell
(Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps), M Lipman (Bath),
T Rees (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins), L Narraway
(Gloucester).
■ Wasps director of rugby Ian
McGeechan is expected to be confirmed
as head coach of the 2009
British and Irish Lions today -
and dissenting voices are impossible
to find. McGeechan, 61, has
a wealth of experience and he
will lead an assault on world
champions South Africa.
11:03am Wednesday 14th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
