Borthwick: Not on my watch

England captain condemns Bloodgate cheats

Last updated: 27th August 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Borthwick: Not on my watch

Borthwick: Claimed the Bloodgate scandal was a disappointing situation

I've never come across it in any team I have been a part of and never will while I'm in a captaincy role. It's not something that will ever happen in a club I'm involved with.

Steve Borthwick
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England captain Steve Borthwick insists the Bloodgate scandal would never have been allowed to happen under his leadership.

The experienced second rower, who has been appointed captain at Saracens this season, looked on in dismay as the Harlequins fake blood substitution saga unfolded.

But the 2007 World Cup runner-up rejects suggestions that cheating is widespread in the game and is adamant such actions cannot be tolerated.

"Obviously it's a disappointing situation to have occurred," Borthwick told Sky Sports News when asked about Bloodgate. "But it's something that I've never come across in the game.

"I've never come across it in any team I have been a part of and never will while I'm in a captaincy role. It's not something that will ever happen in a club I'm involved with.

"Right now everyone wants to put all this behind us and get on with the start of this Guinness Premiership season."

Moral code

Borthwick concedes the rise of the game's profile has increased the strain on clubs, but says that is no excuse.

"There's obviously a lot of pressure on these games there's a lot of people watching and a lot riding on the results of these games," he added.

"We're all responsible for our own actions and I've had a lot of conversations with [director of rugby] Brendan Venter at Saracens.

"He talks a lot about the values of what we're about as a group and Martin Johnson is not that dissimilar with the England team and that's what we've got to live by at Saracens.

"We've talked a lot about honesty and discipline and that's the way we're going to be judged at Saracens, as players, as coaches, and that's the way we're going to get on with our work.

"We as players must now just concentrate on playing rugby. Thankfully the season starts next week so we can get down to the excitement of just playing games again."

Sarries open the new Premiership campaign at home to London Irish on Saturday September 5.