Steve Borthwick is the new England head coach - here are the challenges he faces

Borthwick has been recruited from Leicester where he has acted as director of rugby since 2020, steering the club to last season’s Gallagher Premiership title victory.

The deal that takes the 43-year-old Cumbrian to Twickenham was finalised on Sunday morning and he will be officially announced as Eddie Jones’ successor 24 hours later.

Jones was sacked almost two weeks ago after presiding over England’s worst year of results since 2008, managing only five wins from 12 games.

Warren Gatland, Ronan O’Gara and Scott Robertson were among the names touted to replace Jones, but Borthwick has been the Rugby Football Union’s overwhelming preference to take over.

Before transforming Leicester from a fallen giant of English club rugby into Premiership champions, the former Saracens captain spent eight years as an international assistant coach – all under Jones.

Upon hanging up his boots, he launched his coaching career with Japan in 2012 and then joined his tracksuit mentor when he was appointed England boss in the aftermath of the disastrous 2015 World Cup.

Borthwick’s role was overseeing the forwards, with the line-out his main area of expertise, but he also performed the key role of coaching coordinator and was seen as the glue behind the scenes.

Since his departure, England have struggled for consistency as the churn of backroom staff accelerated in the face of Jones’ demanding managerial style.

When Borthwick took over Leicester were reeling from their 11th-place finish in the 2019-20 season and were only spared relegation by Saracens’ salary cap scandal, which resulted in the London club dropping out of the Premiership instead.

The ship was steadied by finishing sixth a campaign later and despite operating under the salary cap limit, he went on to mastermind Leicester’s first league title since 2013.

Now in charge of England, he must lift another team out of he doldrums – although this time he has the World Cup looming on the horizon.

Only five competitive fixtures in the form of the Six Nations await before the global showpiece in France next autumn, with four warm-up matches providing additional preparation time.

England’s form has seen them drop out of the group of main contenders to lift the Webb Ellis Cup, which features France, South Africa, Ireland and New Zealand.

A clearer picture over the make-up of Borthwick’s management team is expected to emerge on Monday when he appears at a press conference at Twickenham

While logistics for the World Cup are a pressing issue facing the new head coach, he must also sort out a number of other problem areas including a lack of identity, a toothless attack and lack of tactical direction.

But given his success in overhauling Leicester, he will be confident he can shape England into a force in time for France 2023.

There are plenty of challenges.

England lost their way in the wake of their 2019 World Cup final defeat by South Africa.

Muddled tactics and scattergun selection were exacerbated by the high turnover of backroom staff, helping to create an identity crisis that really took hold in the 2021 Six Nations. Beyond commitment and resilience, a confused team lacked any defining characteristics and by the end of the recent autumn series even their fight had drained away.

Borthwick must immediately provide England with clarity over who and what they are.

Once the team’s identity is set, a renewed sense of purpose needs to be established.

In a departure from the Jones era, he should shelve talk of the World Cup and instead concentrate on one goal only – winning the Six Nations.

A remarkable admission by Jones in the wake of the 30-29 defeat by Argentina that opened the autumn was that focus had been lost because of his planning for the global event in France that begins in nine months.

Jones’ willingness to sacrifice everything in pursuit of winning the World Cup was harmful to the team and damaging to the relationship with fans, who pay high ticket prices to watch England succeed in the here and now.

It might not set pulses racing, but restoring the traditional pillars of English strength in defence and the scrum would provide a baseline of being hard to beat – and maybe more. Both have developed into areas of concern over the last year.

The defence is no longer the dominant force seen under John Mitchell, the assistant coach who departed 18 months ago, and the scrum was alarmingly vulnerable in the climax to the autumn against South Africa, capping a poor year in this aspect of England’s set-piece.

He must halt the selection carousel that saw Jones cap 112 players, 14 playing only once