England full-back Freddie Steward has defended under-fire head coach Steve Borthwick and said it’s the players who should be blamed for the defeat to South Africa. The Red Roses lost a fifth consecutive Test match as they went down 29-20 at Allianz Stadium, prompting speculation over Borthwick’s position.

Like in their previous Autumn defeats to New Zealand and Australia, the hosts were again leading during the second half but failed to covert their winning position.

And Steward, who impressed on his return to the starting XV, has argued the team needed to take responsibility.

“I think we let him (Steve Borthwick) down today, the fault shouldn’t go to him at all,” he said after the final whistle. “As players, we had a game plan that put us in a position to win that game, but we’ve got to look at ourselves as to why we didn’t pull away at the end and get back ahead."

Asked if England were making progress, Steward replied: “There’s no doubting that. Over the last couple of weeks, yes we haven’t got the results, but we’ve been close in all three. We believe in what we’re doing, but as players, we need to take some responsibility for the end and try and win that game.”

Borthwick, 45, took over from Eddie Jones in December 2022, having previously served as forwards coach under the Australian. Just 11 months later he led his country to the Rugby World Cup semi-finals, where they were just seconds from victory against the Springboks before a late Handre Pollard penalty made it 16-15.

But after a third-placed finish in the Six Nations this year, England twice lost narrowly on their summer tour of New Zealand. Those results have been compounded by their recent form, with Saturday’s game with Japan now deemed a must-win affair.

Steward however, rubbished talk that Borthwick’s job should be under threat. And he said the players were also united behind the man who himself won 57 caps at international level, and captained England for two years under Martin Johnson.

“He’s an unbelievable coach,” he added. “He has an unbelievable rugby brain, he’s a great motivator and man-manager, and as players, we believe in everything he’s bringing to this team.”

In his own post-match analysis, Borthwick claimed his side’s inferior fitness had cost them dear. He also implied their three opponents had the advantage of momentum after competing in the Rugby Championship until late September.

“Clearly we have played against a series of very good teams that have come off the back of the Rugby Championship, so they are Test match hardened,” he said. “At the start of this series, you looked at the condition of the (England) players and it wasn’t quite where it needed to be for test match rugby.”