Steve Borthwick insists complacency has not been an issue during England's underwhelming Six Nations campaign, though he knows they must stand up and be counted against Italy.

England's hopes of competing for the championship are all but over following back-to-back defeats to Scotland and Ireland, which have left them fourth in the standings.

They are only above Italy on points difference ahead of their trip to Rome next weekend, when they could lose three straight matches under Borthwick for the first time. 

On the eve of the championship, Borthwick said England's ambition was to still be in title contention by the time they go to France for their final match on March 14, in comments that drew scrutiny from his predecessor Eddie Jones. 

During an appearance on the Rugby Unity podcast, Jones suggested England had taken their eye off the ball and said any team looking past their next match is always "fraught with danger."

But Borthwick insists that was not the case, saying: "I discussed that you only get to that point by taking it one step at a time. Our focus has been on one game at a time."

21 - @IrishRugby have beaten England by 20+ points in a men's Test match at Twickenham for the very first time. Monumental. pic.twitter.com/fsci7rYSYX

— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) February 21, 2026

England have won each of their 26 matches against Italy in the Six Nations, with this fixture being the only one where one team boasts a 100% win rate over their opponent, so anything other than a victory on March 7 would put Borthwick under serious pressure. 

"There is always expectation on the England team. Always," Borthwick added.

"Our expectations on ourselves are really high and I don't think our performance levels have come to what we expect of ourselves over the last two weeks.

"Did we want these two losses? Absolutely not. Did we want the performances to be better? Yes, absolutely. I feel that disappointment and frustration more than anybody else. I am deeply passionate about this team.

"What we will do is make sure we move forward from this point, and we will make sure we put in a level of performance that steps up.

"We have discussed all aspects of the preparation with the players. We need to drive even further what we are doing in training, and how hard we train. I think we can go further.

"We need to be much more clinical and there are multiple factors involved. There is a mixture of the physicality needed in the collision area, with the composure you need to make those key decisions at the right time.

"We will be making sure we put the players in those positions as often as possible to ensure we get improvement."