London (AFP) - Steve Borthwick said his “focus had been on the rugby” as he thanked his predecessors as England coach after a tricky week ended with a record 45-22 win over Australia at Twickenham on Sunday.

England went into their November Nations Championship opener dealing with the fall-out from an article in The Times newspaper alleging a “toxic environment” within the squad as a result of Borthwick’s management style.

Borthwick was under pressure after presiding over five defeats in England’s eight previous Tests in 2026.

But Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney had already backed Borthwick to lead England at next year’s World Cup in Australia.

Senior players also promised to put in a performance for their beleaguered boss after the article was published Friday and England responded with seven tries against the overwhelmed Wallabies.

Their final tally of 45 points was the most England had managed in a Test against Australia, surpassing the 44 they posted in a 44-40 win in Sydney in 2016.

Borthwick told reporters an article that was “not an accurate reflection” of his set-up had led to supportive messages from former England coaches.

“What I will say is that in the last couple of days, a number of my predecessors have reached out constantly,” he said.

“I won’t name who they are, but a number of them reached out to me. The basic gist of it is ‘Being there, got the T-shirt, focus on the rugby’,” added Borthwick, whose team continue their Nations Championship campaign against a Japan side coached by Eddie Jones, his immediate predecessor as England boss, at Twickenham on Saturday.

“As England head coach, you get that T-shirt, that’s it. You need to focus on the rugby and that’s what I’ve done this week. That’s what the players have done.”

England captain Maro Itoje, who has worked under Borthwick since he was a novice lock at Saracens, added: “I think particularly from a players’ point of view, we have full support in Steve… That’s not the man I recognise, the article doesn’t represent the environment I recognise.”

- Pollock double -

Sunday’s victory was sealed by two tries in three second-half minutes from cross-over back-row forward Henry Pollock, on after the interval for injured wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.

“I say this in all the right ways, we now have to bear Henry Pollock saying playing on the wing is easy,” joked Borthwick.

But on a more serious note, the former England captain insisted Pollock’s versatility was a “huge asset”.

“When you’re making the decision about a 6-2 split (between forwards and backs) on the bench or a 5-3 split on the bench and you look at your assistant coaches and say, ‘can he genuinely play there?’,” said Borthwick.

“And they answer me ‘yes’ and we proved that today.”

This was the third game in a row where Australia had conceded over 40 points following a pair of heavy defeats by New Zealand last month.

“It was really disappointing,” said Australia captain Harry Wilson. “We didn’t fire a shot in the first half… They were really physical and they made it tough for us. I expected better from us and we have to attack these learnings for Scotland next weekend.

“Every game we want to win and three 20-point losses on the trot is not good enough.”