England captain Steve Borthwick, who has been pummelled on and off the field this Six Nations, insisted ahead of Sunday's clash with France that he was still the right man to lead his country.

Defeats by Wales and Ireland have all but ended the title hopes of an England side that, under Borthwick, has dropped to its lowest ever world ranking of eighth while piling up 10 yellow cards in four games.

Saracens second-row Borthwick's mood will not have been improved by repeated observations from seasoned observers that he is not one of the two best locks available to England manager Martin Johnson and so not worth his place.

Equally his seeming inability to communicate a series of often brutally frank instructions from a succession of referees has done little for his leadership credentials.

Borthwick, who kept his place after 2003 World Cup winning captain and legendary lock Johnson made way for the return of Wasps second row Simon Shaw by dropping Nick Kennedy for Sunday's match at Twickenham, was adamant there was more to his captaincy than tossing a coin before kick-off.

"I try and influence things in the most positive way I can to help this team's development.

"I am captain of England. It is fantastic. It has its challenges but millions of people want to be in the position I am in. It is a huge honour.

"Being a rugby player you have to be emotionally involved with the team you are in. You emotionally invest.

"I know the view of me as a captain is inextricably linked to the performance of the team and more specifically the results. That is reality".

It now looks as if Borthwick will remain as captain for the Six Nations, which for England concludes on March 21 against Scotland at Twickenham.

But Borthwick's position may come under closer scrutiny from the management when the tournament is over according to ex-England captain Lawrence Dallaglio.

"Martin probably feels at this moment in time that changing the captaincy in the middle of the championship would do more harm than good and he is probably right," said Dallaglio.

"I think it has been difficult for him because clearly your captain normally comes from one of the best two or three performers in the team.

"Steve hasn't hit those performance levels yet and so his selection is going to come into question."

In the days when Johnson was on the field and leading England to the summit of world rugby, scrum-half Matt Dawson had a call of "dead" which was the signal to the pack to stop competing at the breakdown, an area where the current side have been penalised time after time recently.

"We have chased too many lost causes at the breakdown," admitted Borthwick.

"It is one area we can improve upon. There has been an emphasis placed on certain calls to ensure that happens.

"We have an equivalent to the 'dead' call."

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