Nothing stands still in top-level rugby. It may have only been 11 weeks since England watched the World Cup bronze medals under the Friday evening lights at the Stade de France, but a major change is now afoot. Sooner or later the head coach, Steve Borthwick, will need to identify a new wave of players who, in addition to winning Six Nations matches this year, can potentially dig for gold in Australia in 2027.
Too often, this innovation process has started too slowly over the years. The necessary nettles are not always grabbed, resulting in valuable playing time and opportunities for team bonding being lost. Some of the scattershot selections of the Eddie Jones era did little for collective confidence, while Saracens’ salary cap saga and the Covid pandemic further clouded Twickenham’s vision.
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And now? For the first time in a long time, there is an opportunity for England to build something more stable. A group of loyal servants will not make it to the next World Cup and a truly talented group of younger alternatives is emerging in most positions. The coach also knows the Red Rose landscape inside and out. All that remains is a wise choice when he unveils his first roster of the year next Wednesday.
Intriguing? Insecurity? In a perfect world, the Rugby Football Union would hire Claudia Winkleman, move everyone into an isolated castle and make quite a show of it. Are believers like Dan Cole, Billy Vunipola and Joe Marler about to be banished? How can we best separate the good people from the bad? The more you think about it, the more room there is to make team announcements much more dramatic.
Perhaps they should also use the Talent ID network more widely. If a 16-year-old can reach the world darts final, surely he can be taught to throw a ball into a lineout? England’s captaincy candidate Jamie “Boy” George versus Luke “the Nuke” Littler? If Littler can still make the double top after being targeted by the astute Aled Walters, England’s strength and conditioning guru, he certainly has a decent oval future.
For now, though, Borthwick can only choose from what’s currently on the shelves. In one or two aisles his supplies are somewhat short, with more than half of the starting XV from the World Cup semi-final against South Africa set to be absent against Italy in Rome in three weeks’ time. A string of Test retirements – Courtney Lawes, Ben Youngs, Jonny May – the unavailability of Owen Farrell and injuries to the likes of Tom Curry, Manu Tuilagi and Marler will result in a significantly different team sheet.
The most crucial detail, however, is not so much the names, but rather the way the team will try to play. England almost tangled with the Springboks on a nasty wet night in Paris, displaying an inspiring level of spirit and commitment. The next step is to add some attacking finesse and encourage a more proactive, less risk-averse mentality.
Borthwick has already publicly acknowledged that England’s recent Six Nations efforts – they have not had a top-two finish since 2020 – have been sub-par and that the time for him to improve the record is nigh. Although evolution rather than revolution is the mantra, the selection must be more powerful and less data-driven. It’s easy to forget, for example, that England’s first-choice scrum-half Alex Mitchell wasn’t chosen for the original World Cup squad and only made it due to an injury to Jack van Poortvliet. How many other Mitchells are there?
Quite a few, potentially. Someone like Tommy Freeman from Northampton seems like a serious athlete and should be involved. Another Saint, George Furbank, also needs to push hard, with Freddie Steward not necessarily a shoe-in as the starting full-back. If England want to inject extra spice into their counter-attacking game, they need both line-breaking threats from deep and high ball retention. Exeter’s Josh Hodge and Sale’s Joe Carpenter are other longer-term options.
Perhaps the tall Steward could turn into England’s Jordie Barrett and shift to the middle? Either way, it’s time to stop viewing the increasingly injury-prone Tuilagi as essential to everything. Waiting for Manu is like a Samuel Beckett play about unrequited desire and a groin injury that will still prevent him from starting the championship. It’s certainly better to whistle for England’s two most in-form Premiership centres, Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade, with promising 6ft 2in Saracen Olly Hartley also in the mix. Northampton’s Fraser Dingwall, once Scotland U18 captain, could be another contender.
Which brings us to fly-half, which will reveal how Borthwick’s mind really works. Marcus Smith is a talented player who has either been redirected or forced to fit into a tactical system that doesn’t really suit him. With the absent Farrell left out for the time being and George Ford requiring injections in an injured knee, the case for putting Smith in 10th for the first two games against Italy and Wales is overwhelming.
If he is selected, he simply needs to get some deliberate runners to release. Cadan Murley, when fit, is a great friend of Harlequins and he and Gloucester’s Ollie Thorley have been unlucky, despite the all-round ability of Elliot Daly, not to feature on the left wing sooner. There should also be room for the fast-rising Manny Feyi-Waboso of Exeter or Tom Roebuck of Sale, assuming Wales and Scotland don’t finish first respectively. That would allow Anthony Watson a few more games for Leicester in which he can press his case for a recall ahead of the Scotland match at Murrayfield in round three.
On the other hand, there can’t be an exciting offense without a fastball. Injuries have reduced England’s loosehead prop options for the match against Italy, but if Ellis Genge’s comeback is delayed, Bath’s Beno Obano could easily slot in alongside George and Will Stuart. Behind them, the temptation could be to put Maro Itoje, George Martin and Ollie Chessum in the same starting pack, allowing Sam Underhill and Ben Earl to pick up where they left off in the bronze medal win against Argentina.
However, England also need more dynamic ball carriers and the temptation should be great to unleash Bath’s Alfie Barbeary off the bench. Borthwick have also named Exeter’s Ethan Roots and Greg Fisilau, while Harlequins’ Cunningham Chandler-South should be a candidate for the England A match against Portugal next month. That match should also provide opportunities for Sale’s emerging prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Newcastle’s impressive young openside Guy Pepper. New names, exciting new possibilities. The future starts here.