Former British and Irish Lion Danny Grewcock believes England's new head coach should consider reinstating Saracens' Steve Borthwick as captain.

Borthwick missed out on England's debacle at the World Cup in New Zealand, having being ignored by manager Martin Johnson a year before, handing the role of captain to Lewis Moody.

But the Saracens front row forward's name still came up in the fallout, with the players’ anonymous reports praising Borthwick as a superior captain to his Bath predecessor.

With Johnson now out of the picture, the England door could once again open for Borthwick and Grewcock insists who ever takes the Red Rose hot seat, should reinstate his former Bath team-mate.

“I know Steve well from his time down at Bath and I know what a great leader he is and what he has done for the England cause,” said World Cup winner Grewcock, who is an ambassador for SSE - a leading energy company and National Community Partner of the RFU.

“And you see from what he does in a Sarries shirt that he still has a lot to offer and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he was to force his way back into the England set-up.

“He is a very talented individual and I know he will be hungry to prove that he can still cut it at international level.

“Whoever comes in and takes charge of England in the long term will no doubt make changes and want to do things there own way but it could open the door for Steve to return.

“He has led the team before and knows what it is all about and you can’t go far wrong when you bring someone in who has been there and done it all before.”

Borthwick lost his place in the England side back in 2010 due to a knee injury but was never reinstated as Johnson appeared to have a black mark next to Borthwick's name.

But with Johnson having fallen on his sword following a disappointing exit at the quarter-final stage to France, Grewcock hopes the next man in charge doesn’t share the same opinion.

“Some people have very strong opinions about certain people for whatever reasons and that looks like what has happened with Johnno and Steve,” he added.

“But I think that with a lot of things changing in the England set up, the door is open to Steve once again, even though there are a lot of good second-rowers about right now.

“Whoever comes in will want to stamp their mark on the side and it could be the best thing for Steve, who still has a lot to offer.”

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