Borthwick and George react to dramatic England victory over Ireland
Marcus Smith's 81st-minute drop-goal secured the 23-22 victory over Andy Farrell's Ireland.
England scored early through Ollie Lawrence but went into the changing rooms four points down after Jack Crowley's 12-point haul in the first forty.
James Lowe scored for the visitors early in the second half before a brilliant team move put George Furbank in the corner for England.
A powerful try from Ben Earl saw England retake the lead, before Lowe’s second try with seven minutes remaining put Ireland ahead. It was Smith's drop-goal in the 81st minute that sealed victory for Borthwick's men as they emerged 23-22 victors in front of a packed out Twickenham.
“I’m really pleased for the players," said Borthwick. "They’ve worked exceptionally hard since we came together in Girona. We’ve been progressing each week and aspects of our game have improved each week, but for the players to have that tangible reward of the victory today against such a good team today was important.
“It’s also important for the supporters. Jamie’s spoken many times about how he wants the supporters to feel and to enjoy it, and bring them on the journey with us. I thought Twickenham was magnificent tonight and the supporters left with a smile on their face.
“We concentrate on our progression. Sometimes it’s really visible and everyone talks about it, sometimes it’s not as visible, but the team has been progressing and that’s the message we’ve been talking about.”
The victory marked Jamie George’s second home win as England captain in what he described as "one of the most emotional and proud days of my career for sure."
"The reason for that is because there were a lot of doubters after that Scotland performance and probably rightly so, but at the same time internally we didn’t listen to the noise outside of what we knew was important.
“For us to go out there and do that to a team like Ireland, who for me are the best team in the world at the minute, that was a really, really special day.
“You saw a lot of the steps today. There’s still a lot to come and it wasn’t a perfect performance by any means, but there was probably a lot of criticism around our attack. To come up against Ireland and score three tries, not many teams do that.”
England now sit second in the Six Nations table and travel to the Groupama stadium in Lyon to face France on Saturday 16th March for their final game of the tournament.
