Joe Marchant reached out to dot down at the death to ensure England, who opened their World Cup campaign with a 27-10 victory over Argentina, took five points for the win. "Tonight it was really tough, we got a bonus point so we're really pleased with that," said Borthwick, whose fly-half George Ford kicked 14 points to be named man-of-the-match for the second successive match.
With squad captain Owen Farrell available for the next game after serving a ban for a high tackle, and Marcus Smith enjoying a great cameo role as a replacement, Borthwick faces a dilemma for their remaining two games, against debutants Chile and Samoa, both in Lille. "How great is it that we have such incredible depth in quality there?
I think a lot of countries would want the quality we've got -- at 10 and 15. Marcus came on and was brilliant in that last quarter," said the former England lock.
England captain Courtney Lawes paid credit to Japan, who were only 10-9 down at half-time of an often scrappy contest at the Stade de Nice. "We knew they were going to put up a fight and they certainly did that," said the flanker whose try -- England's second -- was the turning point of the match. "The conditions are probably not as good as they look.