Six Nations: Steve Borthwick reveals 'private conversations' with Gloucester's Zach Mercer over England snub

England head coach Steve Borthwick has said he explained Zach Mercer’s Six Nations snub in private after the disgruntled back-rower last week announced he was "done with England".

Mercer won two caps for England in the 2018 Autumn Internationals but has found himself off the national radar since, and continues to be passed over despite returning to Gloucester on the back of a stellar two years in France for Montpellier.

A smaller and more mobile player than previous incumbent No. 8 Billy Vunipola, Mercer is the latest in a long line of in-form players to feel aggrieved at their non-selection by Borthwick or Eddie Jones including Sam Simmonds, Alfie Barbeary and Alex Dombrandt - the latter has been included for England this time around.

But after Mercer voiced his frustrations to the media, Borthwick replied saying he has told the Gloucester player where to improve and made his selections objectively.

“Zach and I had a conversation last week. We’ve had a number of conversations over the last couple of weeks with Zach since he’s come back from injury," Borthwick said.

“We’ve highlighted areas where players have done well and the areas where they bring a point of difference and areas where we want them to develop them and add to their game. That’s the same conversation I had with Zach. It’s a competitive arena."

Borthwick added: “When I’m talking to a player, I’m basing it in objectivity. I’m basing it on targets for them to go after, and then we can shape a shared understanding of what we’re seeing.

“Granted, sometimes as a coach you want something specific in a team, I’m always looking at all the coaches and all the players that are able to provide that.”

But while Mercer apparently knows what to do to force his selection, he’ll need to move quickly with England already looking to freshen their player pool in the first tournament of the new World Cup cycle.

He did train with England ahead of the 2023 World Cup after his move to Gloucester made him eligible for Borthwick, but didn’t make the final cut and won’t feature in the Six Nations either unless there’s injuries to the players ahead of him.

Chandler Cunningham-South and Ethan Roots are both uncapped back-rowers selected by Borthwick while Tom Pearson and Ben Curry, aged 24 and 25, only have eight caps combined and will hope to grow that number in the Six Nations.

"I'm older, more mature, I put the international selection aside now, I'm done for the time being with that and I'm just going to focus on Gloucester,” Mercer told the BBC after his snub. "To come back and get given three weeks in a training camp and that was it, I was really disappointed with that."

"I've been open with Steve, I've told him my opinions on it. I thought I haven't really been given a crack which is what I feel like, to not even be given a game to try and prove myself is tough. I just don't feel like he values what I can offer as a player and that's me being honest, I don't think he values what I can bring.

"Obviously I don't fit into the system that he wants to run and, whether I agree with that or not, it is what it is. My focus now is on Gloucester and England can take a step aside for the moment."

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