The unexpected revolutionary
PARIS, FRANCE - OCTOBER 21: England Head Coach Steve Borthwick looks on during the pre match warm up ahead of the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between England and South Africa at Stade de France on October 21, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
Paul Rees says this should be a summer of opportunities for England and head coach Steve Borthwick
Steve Borthwick is an unlikely revolutionary.
When he was appointed England’s head coach after the messy divorce with Eddie Jones, it was assumed he would offer more of the same given the second half of his playing career when Saracens were hunting as a wolf pack and his time in charge of Leicester when the Tigers kept it simple.
Borthwick served his coaching apprenticeship under Jones, first with Japan and then with England for five years. He gained a reputation for meticulous preparation, a drive for data and a capacity for work that ensured he was not one of the coaching casualties during the demanding Australian’s six years in charge, leaving for Leicester to take his first job as head coach.
The 2023 Six Nations was a temporary repair job with little time to prepare and the following World Cup campaign was trying to make the most of what he had, relying on the virtues of team spirit and togetherness as England, defying expectation, reached the semi-final and were a few minutes away from taking on next month’s opponents New Zealand in the final.
Yet even then there were signs that Borthwick would not be afraid to shatter images, not least the faith he showed in Marcus Smith, to the point of playing the Harlequins outside-half at full-back. It was hard to imagine Borthwick signing the free-spirited Smith at Leicester, where he replaced the departing George Ford with another controller, Handre Pollard, but his England have bigger boundaries.
“I don’t want players in the shadows,” said Borthwick after last week announcing his squad for Saturday’s match against Japan in Tokyo and the two-Test tour to New Zealand. “I do not want players thinking of not making a mistake. I want them coming on the pitch trying to win and bringing their own points of difference. Sometimes the best thing you can do is jump right in.
“The team is evolving and you can see that it has pace, footwork and dynamism in it. Those are the attributes we want to use in the way we play, tactically smart with players showing all their talent.”
This year has effectively been Borthwick’s first because he has been able to set his course having had to take over the wheel. England grew during the Six Nations, far more comfortable with their all-court game at the end than the beginning, and the victory over Ireland at Twickenham meant the focus at the end was less on where England had finished and more on how they were evolving.
In one sense, the rate of change is higher than Borthwick would have liked. He will be without 19 of his World Cup squad this summer, including 12 who made up the 23 against South Africa in last October’s World Cup semi-final. The tournament has been regarded over the years as marking the end of a cycle, but the high turnover is down to a number of factors.
Retirement is one with the likes of Danny Care, Ben Youngs, Jonny May and Courtney Lawes all taking their leave from international rugby. Billy Vunipola was left out of the Six Nations squad, along with Max Malins, Beno Obano is suspended while Ellis Genge and Ollie Chessum are injured and Elliot Daly is unavailable.
Then there is the French connection. Manu Tuilagi, Owen Farrell, Kyle Sinckler, Henry Arundell, Joe Marchant, Dave Ribbans, Lewis Ludlam and Jack Willis were all out of Borthwick’s reach because they were either with a Top 14 club or about to join one, and Vunipola can be included in the latter category.
That is a big chunk of the World Cup squad, not far short of 30 per cent, and while the details of the new agreement between the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby over elite players has yet to be announced, it is clear that there will be no relaxation of the rule that prohibits the England head coach from picking any player who is not contracted to a Premiership club unless there is an exceptional circumstance.
And yet, a sign of how having 10 clubs in the Premiership instead of 13 has elevated it on the pitch, the 36-strong squad named by Borthwick last week does not look full of holes. He has overlooked a number of players who had strong club seasons, not least the back rowers Zach Mercer, Alfie Barbeary, Ted Hill, Ruan Ackermann, Will Evans, Tom Pearson and Guy Pepper, and when Curtis Langdon became unavailable after suffering an injury during last weekend’s Premiership final between Northampton and Bath, he was able to claim on an equally ground-making hooker, Gabriel Oghre.
Oghre is one of six uncapped players in the squad. Prop Fin Baxter is another while the other four are all outside backs, Joe Carpenter, Tom Roebuck, Ollie Sleightholme, the Premiership’s leading try scorer, and Luke Northmore, who was picked ahead of his Harlequins colleague Oscar Beard who was part of the Six Nations squad.
Under the spotlight: Tom Curry in action for England. Right, head coach Steve Borthwick
Tom Curry was among the back rowers chosen after injury restricted him to 34 minutes off the bench in Sale’s Premiership playoff semi-final at Bath. It was his first appearance since England’s victory over Argentina last October ensured they finished third in the World Cup and there were suggestions he would be given the summer off to prepare for the new season.
Yet he will be the player most raring to go after such a long time out and, as someone who has captained England, his leadership will be vital with Farrell, Lawes, Ford, Genge, Care and Youngs elsewhere. Curry turned 26 yesterday and is close to the average age of the squad, 25.8, with Dan Cole the oldest at 37, and Chandler Cunningham-South the youngest at 21 along with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Cole is one of four thirtysomethings in the squad along with Joe Marler, who may have had a quiet summer had Genge been fit, Henry Slade and Ben Spencer whose reward for a stand-out season with Bath was to replace Care as the main challenger at scrum-half to Alex Mitchell, his opponent in last weekend’s final.
Borthwick admitted his hardest decision was who to take as the third scrum-half, the fit again Jack van Poortvliet, who would probably have been the first choice scrum-half at the World Cup but for the injury he sustained against Wales a month before the start of the tournament, or Bristol’s Harry Randall, a player in Mitchell’s mould, able to get the ball away quickly while quick to spot space around the fringes.
It was a selection that showed Borthwick’s open mind. It was he who brought through van Poortvliet at Leicester, along with another academy graduate Freddie Steward, who lost his place at full-back to George Furbank during the Six Nations. He went not for the player he knew but one who was better suited to the style of play he has been urging England to embrace.
It was not so long ago that Randall’s England cause looked forlorn and his recall should give the likes of Mercer succour. Van Poortvliet, like Steward, has perhaps paid for Leicester being an outlier in the Premiership this season in terms of tactics, kicking and set-pieces.
Leicester’s head coach Dan McKellar has promised a rejig over the summer, something that should benefit van Poortvliet, a player he mentioned at the end of the season as being one he would be looking to use as an attacking fulcrum. His time will come again.
Borthwick has taken two specialist outside-halves with Ford not travelling, the two Smiths Marcus and Fin. There are only two backs in the squad who have one more than Marcus Smith’s 32 caps, Steward (33) and Henry Slade (62). Eleven of the 16 have fewer than 10 caps with eight on five or under.
Six of the backs who started for Northampton in the final against Bath are in the squad: the exception was a South African, Burger Odendaal. It again shows Borthwick’s flexibility given the contrast in styles between Leicester and their East Midlands rivals: his default position has changed.
Borthwick has a decision to make at 10. It seemed as if Marcus Smith would taken over from Farrell in the Six Nations, but injury meant he missed the start and when he returned, Ford was settled in the position and he was given a seat on the bench.
This should be Marcus Smith’s time, but could he suffer the same fate as Brynmor Williams at the end of the 1970s? He was expected to benefit from the retirement of Wales scrum-half Gareth Edwards having toured with the Lions in 1977, but found himself overtaken by Terry Holmes.
Fin Smith is 22 and had 33 minutes off the bench in the Six Nations as England held on in Italy and failed to mount a comeback against Scotland at Murrayfield. Marcus Smith featured in the final two games, dropping the winning goal against Ireland and scoring a try against France having been brought on at fullback in the eighth minute for the injured Furbank.
England need an outside-half for the long term with Farrell, who took a sabbatical for the Six Nations, unavailable for at least the next two years after joining Racing 92. Ford made his Test debut 10 years ago and at the age of 31 should be around for the next World Cup, unless he joins the flight to France.
Fin Smith’s career took off when Worcester collapsed last season. He joined Northampton, who had long been monitoring him, and within a few weeks Dan Biggar left for Toulon leaving him ordering around the likes of Cortney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam and Alex Waller at the age of 21.
He showed he had the temperament and the technique has been layered on. He has similarities with Farrell in his competitive zeal, relish for defence, the willingness to go to the line and his ability to mix up his game. Northampton won the Premiership this season having added physicality and defensive resilience without sacrificing their attacking intent.
Bath knocked them out of their stride last weekend, but they kept playing their patterns and were rewarded with the winning try six minutes from the end which came from a typical Saints move. Fin Smith has become an integral part of what they do, and if he has growing to do, that is at it should be for someone of his age.
Marcus Smith is different, less concerned with looking after his forwards than detecting weaknesses in the defence. He is reliant on quick ball, something he has not enjoyed much during his England career, and there have been times when his outside backs have struggled to read them.
“Having played virtual non-stop Test rugby for eight years, Itoje needs a break”
Fin Smith has the advantage of being one of six backs from Northampton in the squad. With Care having retired from inter national rugby, Northmore is the only other Quins back in the summer 36. What is often overlooked about Marcus Smith is his competitiveness and he has shown he can challenge even the tightest defences.
This should be his summer of opportunity, starting with Japan on Saturday. Five of the backs who started the World Cup group match against the Brave Blossoms last September will not be there, leaving Steward and Mitchell. There will be at least four changes at forward with Marler, Jamie George, Ben Earl and Itoje remaining.
For all the debate about whether Tom Curry should be in the squad, Itoje is 106 minutes away from the 2,400 limit placed on a player during a season under the agreement between Twickenham and the Premiership clubs, although it will be superseded after the Tokyo Test by the new deal. Since the beginning of last August, Itoje has played 14 Tests without being substituted and made 16 appearances for Saracens, taken off three times for a total of 38 minutes. At 29 and having played virtual non-step Test rugby in the last eight years, he is a player more in need of a break than the flanker.
But such is the grind of rugby at the top level now that there is no turning off the treadmill, only the option of jumping off. It was 12 months ago that England went into camp for the World Cup and the season will end for the squad, or at least the 23 who feature in the second Test against the All Blacks, in the middle of next month.
This should be a summer of development tours, reciprocated for the souther n hemisphere nations in the autumn, but the game cannot afford any lull. And so the likes of Itoje, important cogs in their club and country machines, have to soldier on. It is little wonder that so many, mainly those with families, are taking up options in France and Japan.
The majority of Borthwick’s squad have had a shorter campaign than Itoje with 20 players not having been involved in the World Cup while Sam Underhill was called up in the last couple of weeks of the tour nament, but all the talk since the pandemic seems to have been about expanding the game with a global tournament due to start in 2026 and a world club competition mooted.
England have an opportunity this summer on their first tour to New Zealand for 10 years. That was a three-Test series and the first two were close, the All Blacks winning by five points and then one before dominating the final match in Hamilton.
Marler is the one England survivor, although 11 of the players who appeared in the series are still slipping on their boots. New Zealand are under new management with Scott Robertson taking over as head coach from Ian Foster and the players are threatening to mutiny in a dispute over how the game there is being run.
England’s players have set up their own body to handle contracts and negotiate commercial deals with the RFU. It has to start becoming more of a game for the players if it is not to self-combust, and in Borthwick England’s have a champion.
