The scene: Bath’s Recreation Ground and Steve Borthwick’s final home game for the club last season, coincidentally against Saracens, whom he has now joined. He and Olly Barkley, who has also moved on, sheepishly walk around the pitch at the Rec to receive the applause and gratitude of the supporters who wanted to show their appreciation for their years of service to the West Country club.

Borthwick, the club captain, looked a little uncomfortable, a man who obviously does not enjoy the limelight. That day he was the last to leave the dressing-room. Asked then if he had had second thoughts about leaving Bath, the response was unequivocal, gruff and to the point. His answer was delivered in his Northern accent — he was born in Carlisle — which showed not a trace of the decade he had spent in the West Country. That Saracens, whom he agreed to join last January, are not in the Heineken Cup while his old club are made no difference. He simply felt that the time was right for a change.

“As soon as I met Eddie Jones [the Saracens director of rugby] and heard his vision for Saracens, I knew it was something that I wanted to be part of,” Borthwick said. “The club has been moving forward for the past two years in making the semi-finals of four competitions and with Eddie coming in, things are in place to take the next step and its going to be exciting to be part of it.

“At 28 as a second row, the next few seasons are my peak years. To join a club like this, which shares my ambitions, was something that I couldn’t say no to.

“Bath will always have a special place in my heart and it was a big decision for me to leave. It’s been a huge part of my life, especially as I was also captain of the club, but the time was right for me to do something else.”

Jones did not hesitate in installing Borthwick as co-captain alongside Andy Farrell, who will miss the start of the season with a thumb injury, even though the lock will be absent for half the season as the club’s only member of the England elite player squad. “I was a little surprised when Eddie called me to one side to tell me the news, but I’m delighted,” he said.

“It’s not something you ever expect. Sharing the captaincy with a player like Andy is a huge honour. Being a captain means it is a challenge to get the best out of the people around you along with yourself. But it’s a challenge I wanted. There’s a lot of hard work ahead of us and with the support of the highly impressive coaching staff at Saracens, it can be a very exciting year.”

It has been pretty eventful so far in an international context. Martin Johnson, the England team manager, who perhaps sees something of himself in Borthwick, made him captain of the ill-starred summer tour to New Zealand. It was not England’s finest hour in any respect but no blame can be attached to Borthwick, who led by example, as always, and supported his players throughout. It was a tough time all round but Borthwick prefers not to dwell on what happened, rather to look forward.

“I’ve already been really impressed by my time at Saracens and we have a tremendously skilful and hard-working group of players here. Hopefully as a group we can make it a successful year. I’ve been very impressed by the professionalism, work ethic and skill level of the players and more importantly, I already feel like I am improving as a player. That’s great for me and one of the main reasons why I joined.”

If Borthwick comes across as blinkered in his approach, a bit dour even, and a man who takes life and rugby very seriously by poring over lineout codes and tactics, he makes no apologies. He is precise, methodical and a deep thinker who balanced rugby commitments with a degree course in economics and politics at Bath University from where he graduated in 2003.

“In his position lineouts are his primary concern,” Simon Shaw, the London Wasps and fellow England lock, said. “He literally spends hours analysing his own team’s strengths and weaknesses at the lineout and that of the opposition.

“At Pennyhill Park [where England were based under Sir Clive Woodward] I never slept well. I got up at 6am one day and wandered in to the team room and there was Steve analysing lineout videos. There are not too many players like him who go into such great detail. Somebody like Victor Matfield in South Africa would be his equivalent.

“He is just focused on being the best he can be. He is extraordinarily professional. He won’t be the life and soul of a party or go out for a pint at weekends. Neil Back was similar in his focus. He was determined to get the monkey of his size off his back. People said he was too small. So he set out to be the fittest forward in world rugby; that got him everything he wanted. You can draw parallels between the two. Steve may not be the biggest, fastest, strongest lock or have the best hands. The key to his success is as a technician and the brains of the lineout.”

Club information: Director of rugby: Eddie Jones Co-captains: Steve Borthwick, Andy Farrell Website: www.saracens.com Address: Vicarage Road Stadium, Watford WD18 0EP Telephone: 01923 475222 Tickets: 01923 475222

Squad:

English unless stated

Internationals IN CAPITALS

Forwards -

MATIAS AGÜERO (It, 8 caps); Donald Barrell; STEVE BORTHWICK (39); MATT CAIRNS (1); Kris Chesney; CHRIS JACK (NZ, 67); CENCUS JOHNSTON (Samoa, 22); Andy Kyriacou; Nick Lloyd; Tom Mercey; FABIO ONGARO (It, 56); MICHAEL OWEN (Wales, 41); Tom Ryder; Andy Saull; David Seymour; BEN SKIRVING (1); WIKUS VAN HEERDEN (SA, 14); COBUS VISAGIE (SA, 29); HUGH VYVYAN (1); Alex Walker.

Backs -

Bradley Barritt (SA); Noah Cato; NEIL DE KOCK (SA, 10 caps); ANDY FARRELL (8); Alex Goode; Richard Haughton; Glen Jackson (NZ); Ben Jacobs (Aus); FRANCISCO LEONELLI (Arg, 15); Rodd Penney (NZ); Adam Powell; KAMELI RATUVOU (Fiji, 18); MOSES RAULUNI (Fiji, 47); GORDON ROSS (Scot, 25); BRENT RUSSELL (SA, 23); DAN SCARBROUGH (2); Kevin Sorrell; Edd Thrower; CHRIS WYLES (US, 10).

Fixtures:

Sept 6 Harlequins (h, Twickenham)

Sept 12 Sale Sharks (a)

Sept 21 Newcastle Falcons (h)

Sept 27 Northampton (h)

Oct 1 Bristol (a)

Oct 5 Llanelli Scarlets (h)

Oct 12 Mont de Marsan (h)

Oct 18 Viadana (a)

Oct 26 Northampton (h)

Oct 31/Nov 1/2 Bristol (a)

Nov 16 Gloucester (h)

Nov 23 London Irish (a)

Nov 30 Worcester Warriors (h)

Dec 6 Bayonne (a)

Dec 14 Bayonne (h)

Dec 21 London Wasps (a)

Dec 27 London Irish (h)

Jan 3 Gloucester (a)

Jan 11 Bristol (h)

Jan 16/17/18 Viadana (h)

Jan 23/24/25 Mont de Marsan (a)

Feb 14 Northampton (a)

Feb 20 Newcastle Falcons (a)

March 1 Sale Sharks (h)

March 7 Harlequins (a)

March 15 Bath (h)

March 21 Leicester (a)

March 29 London Wasps (h)

April 4 Worcester Warriors (a)

April 19 Leicester (h)

April 25 Bath (a)