Six Nations team guide: Steve Borthwick's England
Ben Earl of England shouts instructions during the Rugby World Cup match against South Africa at Stade de France.
Twickenham.
Will Le Crunch have the same bite following England’s hammering at home to France? Steve Borthwick’s side were humiliated at Twickenham 11 months ago in a 53-10 roasting and face Les Bleus in the final round in Lyon on March 16.
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P16 W9 L7
Of all the Six Nations teams at last autumn’s tournament, England actually exceeded expectations. They may have been on the favourable side of the draw and then squeezed through a dramatic quarter-final with Fiji but they took eventual champions South Africa to the wire in a tense semi-final, sunk only by a late Handre Pollard penalty in a 16-15 loss.
4th P5 W2 L3
Grand Slam 2003, 2016
5th 2018, 2021
Steve Borthwick (start date 2023) P5 W2 L3 Win Rate: 40%
Jamie George – first 6N as captain
52 – Ben Youngs (2010-23); current: 50 – Dan Cole
528 – Owen Farrell (2012-23); Current: 109 – George Ford
16 – Ben Cohen (2000-06); current: 9 – Danny Care and Elliot Daly
Saracens back-row powerhouse Ben Earl (pictured), coming off a superb World Cup last autumn.
There is a first call-up for Exeter Chiefs’ Immanuel Feyi-Waboso. The wing joins six other uncapped players in Borthwick’s squad – his Chiefs team-mate Ethan Roots, Harlequins duo Chandler Cunningham-South and Oscar Beard, Northampton Saints backline pair Fraser Dingwall and fly-half Fin Smith, and Sale’s Tom Roebuck.
The exodus from the English Premiership has denied Borthwick to select Top 14 emigres Henry Arundell and Jack Willis while Courtney Lawes has called time on his illustrious Test career. Just as influential a loss is captain Owen Farrell, whose decision to step away from Test rugby after the World Cup looks to have been made permanent by his decision to leave Saracens for Racing 92. An injury to his successor at fly-half, Marcus Smith, compounds the absence.
O Chessum (Leicester Tigers), D Cole (Leicester Tigers), A Coles (Northampton Saints), L Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks), C Cunningham-South (Harlequins), B Curry (Sale Sharks), T Dan (Saracens), A Dombrandt (Harlequins), B Earl (Saracens), C Ewels (Bath), E Genge (Bristol Bears), J George (Saracens), J Heyes (Leicester Tigers), M Itoje (Saracens), J Marler (Harlequins), B Obano (Bath Rugby), T Pearson (Northampton Saints), E Roots (Exeter Chiefs), W Stuart (Bath), S Underhill (Bath).
O Beard (Harlequins), D Care (Harlequins), E Daly (Saracens), F Dingwall (Northampton Saints), I Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs), G Ford (Sale Sharks), T Freeman (Northampton Saints), G Furbank (Northampton Saints), O Lawrence (Bath), A Mitchell (Northampton Saints), T Roebuck (Sale Sharks), H Slade (Exeter Chiefs), F Smith (Northampton Saints), M Smith (Harlequins), B Spencer (Bath), F Steward (Leicester Tigers).
For one reason or another only 17 of the 34 players that saw game time for England at the World Cup have made it into Steve Borthwick’s 6N squad. The most high profile absentee and a more worrying one for the game in general is captain Owen Farrell, forced to walk away from the international game due to wellbeing issues.
Northampton’s excellent form in Europe offers a new beginning and with a strong cohort of the Saints backline likely to start in Rome this weekend, it’s hoped that England may look to expand their approach.
The English public have been less than enamored by Borthwick's kick-and-chase game and it will be interesting to see if there’s any change when they kick off in Rome.
New defence coach, the former Munster full back Felix Jones, will seek to introduce the ferocious blitz defence that proved so successful with back to back world champions South Africa.
Having finished third at the World Cup, Borthwick has some wriggle room but with only two home fixtures, one of those against Ireland, it’s going to be a challenging tournament. That said, at a minimum, England need to finish in the top three.
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