Steve Borthwick understands England fans are hurting after third straight loss

Claiming that the group aren't "hiding away" from their recent lack of form, Borthwick insists that the side's growth over the past 12 months has been "very strong".

Despite heading for their worst-ever Six Nations finish, Borthwick insists that he is still the man to lead the national side.

"Absolutely," he said when questioned if he was the man for the job.

"This particular year, the Six Nations before the World Cup, we've seen it before with the England team going back to 2018 in particular, then the team was in a very good place the following year at the World Cup.

"It's tough losing. We are not hiding away from the fact that we are not where we want to be in terms of results and performances. I said to you that the intensity in the last game wasn't where it needed to be. I thought the intensity was much improved. For 60 minutes, the team did a lot of good things today."

Heading into this campaign, England were considered one of the favourites to lift the trophy. They've not just become a bad team overnight.

"You can see the vision of where the team is going to be, you see the nature of the players coming through," continued the England coach.

"This is a tough period, and what we will do is learn from it and make sure that we're a stronger team going forward."

Addressing the criticism his side is facing, Borthwick turned his attention to the "hurting" fans.

"Firstly, I would like to thank the supporters for what they give to the team," he said.

"Secondly, I recognise that they are hurting like we are hurting. We feel it, we really, really do. We're not shying away from that fact. These are not the performances and results we want to give our supporters.

"In the last period of time, I think we have brought the supporters on a journey with us, playing the attacking rugby they want with the try-scoring we've done over the last 12 months, and the way we've tried to play has been very good.

"Unfortunately, right now those tries aren't flowing the way we want them to be. We can't get across the try-line anywhere near as regularly as we were, or as often as we want.

"There are a couple of factors within that, one of them is certainly the contact area, which is certainly really, really hard fought right now. We will make sure we improve on that ahead of France next week."

England and France will come together for Le Crunch on Saturday, March 14, in what promises to be one of the most exciting final weekends of Six Nations rugby in recent history.