England need to learn from their mistakes in the 2018 NatWest Six Nations and “break the mould” in their Test series in South Africa, according to coach Steve Borthwick.
The Springboks host Eddie Jones’ side in a three-Test series in June as they look to bounce back from a disappointing fifth-place finish in this year’s Championship.
England lost their final three games as Ireland achieved the Grand Slam and Borthwick has admitted that changes must be made if they are to improve their record in South Africa.
“We got some clear feedback in some games about what things we need to work on,” he said, when asked about what was learned from this year’s Six Nations.
“I think it has given us a great direction about where we need to go and what we need to do going forward for the challenge this summer.
“We’ve got to change what we’ve done previously and what England teams have done before.”
England have only claimed three wins in 13 Tests in South Africa, dating back to 1972, but Borthwick is confident they can improve their record if they alter their approach.
“We’ve never won a Test series in South Africa,” he said. “If we do things the same as we have done before we will probably end up with the same results and we have got to change.
“We can talk about technical areas, things we have learned, breakdown for instance was an area we want to do better in, but overall we are changing the way we approach things going forward.
“You make small changes and they have pretty profound effects. We need to break the mould – we need to prepare differently, prepare better.
“We look at it this summer and we have a 23 per cent win rate in South Africa in Tests. We need to go with a different attitude, a different mindset and prepare differently.
“The thing with rugby is it is always changing and you have got to make sure you are changing and developing with it.”
Speaking at England’s training camp in Brighton, Borthwick added that the 2018 edition of the Six Nations demonstrated how quickly the game can evolve.
“It’s a really competitive environment, people are always trying to do things better,” he said. “The Six Nations was a fantastic tournament.
“What we see in the game now will be different again a few months later. We’re here to see how we can do things differently, how we can change and improve what we’re trying to do.
“You always have to be looking ahead and see what’s going to happen in the future, not just in the next couple of months but six months after that.
“You also have to understand what players you have, what your strengths are and what you can do.”
