By Darraghgirl
May 29 2014

Steve Borthwick will lead out his Saracen's Wolfpack for one last hurrah at Twickenham on Saturday in the Premiership Final. Northampton Saints stand between him and the Trophy he deserves to take into retirement with him. He wouldn't want it any other way.

Stephen William Borthwick joined Saracens in 2008 following a distinguished 10 year career at Bath. I remember at the time many posts from Bath fans telling us how lucky we were to have him and how they were going to miss him. How right they were!

During his first season with Sarries, Steve was co-captain alongside Andy Farrell. He had just assumed the England captaincy and led England on their summer tour to New Zealand, a tour remembered more for a “sex scandal” than for rugby, England losing both Test Matches. However Martin Johnson kept faith with Borthwick and he retained the captaincy through a difficult Autumn Internationals and 6 Nations series. Meanwhile back at Vicarage Road a new era was dawning. We didn’t know it at the time but this was the start of something special.

New coach Brendan Venter began his reign by axing 18 members of Saracen’s first team squad. Among those who survived the cull was Borthwick. I remember thinking, back in 2009, that this true gentleman must be regretting his decision to leave the relative tranquillity of Bath for the crash bang wallop of London. Shortly afterwards a knee injury forced him to withdraw from England’s Home Internationals Squad and he never represented his country again. Interestingly he was one of the few to come up smelling of roses following the infamous RFU report into England’s 2011 World Cup shambles with one comment stating “Steve Borthwick was a phenomenal leader. He was so knowledgeable about the game that I’m sure he intimidated John Wells.” As the saying goes “you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone”. In the end he won 57 caps for England with 21 as captain.

But Borthwick must have realised things were moving forward at Saracens. Players like Schalk Brits, Carlos Nieto, Ernst Joubert, Mouritz Botha, Jacques Burger and Derrick Hougaard joined the club for the 2009-10 season and Alex Goode and Owen Farrell were starting to force their way into the team. Saracens finished the regular season in 3^rd place and reached the Premiership Final with a narrow win over Northampton. Sadly Borthwick didn’t feature because of injury however he led the club in the Final although he was probably not fit and was substituted early in the second half. As we all remember, Leicester were victorious in 2010 but in 2011 it all changed. This time the club finished second in the table with a now fit Borthwick playing an integral role. He was on the pitch throughout that epic final and the never-ending extra 8 minutes to lift the trophy for Saracens.

Over the past 3 seasons Borths has played in the majority of our games, leading from the front as he always does and desperately missed when he had a well-earned rest. His professionalism has kept him fit well into his thirties. In April he set a Premiership record of 263 appearances when he led the club to victory over Northampton. On Saturday he will make his 265^th and final Premiership appearance, his 102^nd for Saracens. He has scored 2 tries for the club, his first against Bristol in 2009 and the second against his old club Bath in 2012.

Steve announced in November 2013 that he would retire from Professional Rugby at the end of the season. He said “Very few players have the chance to retire on their own terms. Saracens did ask me if I'd like to carry on but I feel that the time is right for me to finish playing at the end of the season."Sarries director of rugby Mark McCall said Borthwick had become "a Saracens legend. Steve, as a leader, as a player and as a man, sets the highest standards in everything he does, he will be sorely missed." It was announced this week he will take up a coaching role in Japan alongside Eddie Jones his former boss at Saracens.

Steve has been the Captain of our ship. He has had a firm hand on the tiller and guided us through storms and millponds alike. There is no avoiding his presence on the field – for Saracens, for our opponents, for the officials – they are all in no doubt he’s there. On occasions he gets close to the mark but he rarely oversteps it and as such he is respected by coaches, players and referees alike. He is far more than the sum of his parts. And we are going to miss him tremendously.

Saturday it is then. When he leads the team out onto the Twickenham turf I know he’ll get a tremendous ovation, and when hopefully, deservedly, he raises the Premiership Trophy for a second time a couple of hours later it’ll be an even bigger one.

Stand up Mr Borthwick, take a bow.

Stand Up Mr Borthwick

Discussion started by TheSaracens.com , 29/05/2014 09:05

TheSaracens.com
29/05/2014 09:05

Thanks Steve!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014:06:11:21:59:20 by Darraghgirl.

Reply Quote Report

derbyshire fan
29/05/2014 09:10

Thanks Steve - really looking forward to cheering Steve onto the pitch on Saturday; and (fingers crossed) to cheering him with the trophy later on!

Reply Quote Report

JO'G
29/05/2014 09:57

I fondly remember the series of pictures at Bath with Borthwick bieng spelt out and then rearranged

Reply Quote Report

Gryff
29/05/2014 10:52

He will be really missed

Reply Quote Report

AlanE
29/05/2014 12:29

One more! Thanks for everything.

Good luck in Japan

Reply Quote Report

Seany_Boy0511
29/05/2014 12:43

top bloke, really true gent, fantastic captain, and deserves to sign off in style! I hope that all 82000 give him the standing ovation he truly deserves!

Thanks Steve!

Reply Quote Report

Waldo
29/05/2014 14:34

Top Bloke - Great Captain - Saracens Legend

Steve is going to be Big in Japan !

Reply Quote Report

The Bard
29/05/2014 21:39

I just hope he is fit enough to put in the performance he deserves to finish on.
But whatever happens, he has been a true inspiration since he joined and I can't thank him enough for what he has done for us.

Reply Quote Report

GerryK
30/05/2014 13:19

Agree with all these comments, Steve's interview on the fish alongside Mark McCall is well worth a viewing, epitomises the man, 'dedicated, committed, hard working, supportive of colleagues and friends, all round nice guy in addition to his exceptional leadership qualities

Reply Quote Report

davidthesarrie
30/05/2014 14:55

Thanks DG for the article.

I can only second all the foregoing positives about Stevey B!

His England career would have been longer had he not accepted the poison chalice of captaincy during the MJ tenancy, but it has been Sarries gain.

One rousing push from everyone involved with Sarries, please, to ensure that Steve leaves on the high that his career deserves.

Reply Quote Report

Goto: Forum List•Message List•Search• Log In

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net