Steve Borthwick was keen to play down the decision but the magnitude of what he’d just done couldn’t be denied – both for the present and for what it might mean moving forward.
Captain, fly half, heartbeat of the team and the formerly undroppable Owen Farrell had been dropped. And not for a midweek tour game, a World Cup warm-up match or an autumn international against a tier-two side but for a bona fide, live, crucial Six Nations contest. A fixture against the second-best team in the world in a championship where England – on paper at least – are still alive in the title race.
