England ‘A’, formerly known as the Saxons, will play their first match in over seven years when they take on Portugal in February 2024.
The one-off fixture will take place at Leicester Tigers‘ home Welford Road on Sunday 25 February, the day after England’s first team take on Scotland in the third round of the Six Nations.
England head coach Steve Borthwick will pick the side, which will include players from England’s wider squad for the tournament that haven’t previously managed to get gametime in the opening three rounds.
The match will be held almost right in the middle of a nearly two-month hiatus that the Premiership will be taking while international players are unavailable, and Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL) will also be involved in the selection process as well as coaches from across the league who will be brought in to assist preparation.
“It brings us great excitement to be renewing our A side in 2024,” said Conor O’Shea, RFU executive director of performance rugby. “Historically it has been a platform for some of the country’s next best players to showcase their talent whilst representing England.
“Portugal demonstrated their capabilities as a rugby nation on the world stage in recent months with their attacking flair and passion – we can’t wait for more of that in the new year! They are a team possessing many bright stars for the future and are a befitting opponent for our A squad.
“England Rugby wants to be part of providing gametime and mutual collaboration for emerging nations such as Portugal, who have a great deal to offer to the game and I’m sure both they and our A side will gain a lot from February’s match.
“This builds on partnerships we have with other nations and are looking to develop further links with other emerging unions.”
England’s second team were known as England B up to 1992, before being renamed England A and then taking on the Saxons branding between 2006 and 2016.
During the latter period they participated in the Churchill Cup – a tournament involving the United States and Canada first teams as well as a series of different invited nations and second teams – winning it six times from when it began in 2003 and ended in 2011.
The team continued to participate in annual fixtures against Ireland and Scotland’s second teams until 2015, before touring South Africa in 2016 to play their second team under the guidance of Exeter Chiefs coach Ali Hepher.
They were due to make a return to action in 2021 to face Scotland A in June of that year, but the fixture was cancelled due to Covid cases in the opposition camp.
Facing Portugal will be a vastly more challenging test than the last time Os Lobos met England’s second team back in 2009 – where England won 66-0 – with the Iberians coming off the back of a Rugby World Cup where they ran Wales and Australia close, drew with Georgia and famously beat Fiji in a sensational game to round off the tournament’s pool stage.
With England’s first team having only beaten the Pacific Island nation by five points more than Portugal did the ‘A’ side will be sure to expect a tough test, but Borthwick will hope the long awaited return of the second team both displays and increases the depth of test quality players he has at his disposal, while improving the pathway of the relatively successful U20s side into international rugby.
Written by Nick Powell
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