Maro Itoje, the England captain, has reiterated his squad’s full support for the head coach, Steve Borthwick, after the home side’s resounding 45-22 victory against Australia at Allianz Stadium on Sunday. Itoje described Borthwick as “a world‑class coach” and said England were “lucky to have him” despite fresh media reports of unhappiness in the camp this summer.

Borthwick also revealed he had received several pre-game messages from former England coaches urging him to ignore external criticism and to concentrate on the rugby. His team certainly succeeded in that regard, scoring seven tries to rack up a record number of points against the Wallabies and register only their third win in their past eight games.

Itoje did not confirm specifically that the story in the Times last week had galvanised the players but made it clear that he disagreed with criticism of Borthwick’s man‑management style by unnamed sources.…