I want my players to retire without regrets - unlike me, says Borthwick

LONDON: New England coach Steve Borthwick said on Monday (Jan 23) that he did not always get his best performances onto the pitch as a player in the test arena and says he is determined to help the current team avoid having the same regrets once they stop playing.

Borthwick, a tough lock and lineout specialist, played for England from 2001-2010 but had a frustrating career that featured 29 wins, 27 defeats and a draw.

He narrowly missed out on the victorious 2003 World Cup squad and was a peripheral part of the 2007 squad that lost in the final. His two years of captaincy from 2008, mostly under Martin Johnson, coincided with a generally poor period for the national team and injury accelerated the end of his international career.

Now given the responsibility of hauling England out of another slump, Borthwick has given an open and honest assessment of how his own career frustrations have helped forge his coaching philosophy.

"I was privileged to play 57 times for England and had the great honour of captaining my country on 21 occasions," he told reporters at the Six Nations Championship launch on Monday.

"I look back and I regret a lot of the things I didn’t do. Did I ever give the very, very best account of myself? I always put the effort in, but did I ever feel I put all my strengths on the pitch? Would I like to rewind the clock and go back and try and do it again? Yes, I would.

"As a coach I want to help these young guys not make the mistakes I made. When they’re old and have no hair like me, I want them to not have regrets. I don’t want them looking back thinking “I wish I’d done that or I could have done that - let's do it.

"One thing I’ll promise you is we’re going to make mistakes, but what I want the players to do is