My England XV for the Six Nations

When Eddie Jones finished 2022 with five wins out of 12, he was fired a few weeks later.

Steve Borthwick achieved the same record this year but he seems ready for a chance to redeem himself in 2025 after Sunday’s victory against Japan.

Another poor person Six Nations campaign and the old second line will surely have disappeared. He would therefore surely have hoped for a nice schedule, but no luck: England opens in Dublin against Ireland before receiving France at Twickenham.

Scotland will follow, hoping to make it five wins in a row against England, and perhaps put the final nail in the coffin of Borthwick’s tenure.

So how could, or maybe shouldEngland lined up against Ireland on February 1?

Back three

The game has certainly changed with the introduction of new guidelines on “escorting” high kicks: the scrupulous sanction of anyone blocking a pursuer with a kick has made the high and low a weapon of much more effective attack, and that has probably changed either. position more than full-back.

George Furbank previously took advantage of the opportunity to counter-attack from deep, but with shorter, contestable kicks now so valuable, deep clearance kicks into the 22, including the Northampton Saints full-back fed so well, are much rarer. Instead, the game now calls for the man nicknamed “The Air Steward” due to his quality under the high ball: Freddie Steward.

He doesn’t have the speed of Furbank, but with Ollie Sleightholme (who scored four tries this fall) and Emmanuel Feyi-Weboso on the wings, there is no shortage of firepower elsewhere. Had it not been for a bad blow to the head against Australia, Feyi-Waboso would have been England’s star of this series.

Probably already on the plane to Australia as a British and Irish Lion, he is the embodiment of the “play fast” philosophy Borthwick hopes to embrace. And with broken play and chaotic ball playing a growing role in the world of contestable kicks, Feyi-Weboso’s quick feet, good jumping and raw pace will play well.

midfielder

The biggest question mark in all this flat programming above the heads of Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence in the centers. It’s a combination that has started a Test match for England on 17 occasions, more than half of Lawrence’s caps. In fact, in all his starts, only four took place without Slade at his side; Owen Farrell, Joe Marchant, Manu Tuilagi and Elliot Daly have all done it once.

Lawrence and Slade are an easy choice because they have complementary skills: the former is a physical front runner who you attack high at your peril, while the latter is a second playmaker with a powerful boot and deep understanding of how to lead. a lightning defense. However, almost four years after they first entered combat together, Slade and Lawrence still appear to be on different wavelengths in terms of offense.

Henry Slade is likely to stay because of his mastery of 13 channel defense, a difficult art in “the hammer”, as England calls its defensive system. His partner could be Luke Northmore of Harlequins or Tommy Freeman, the England winger who has played almost as much at outside center for Northampton since the start of last season.

The complicating factor is that Lawrence, along with Slade, was one of only two centers placed on an upgraded center contract last month, so he is unlikely to be dropped completely, but he could instead return to the bench, from where he won all but one match. his World Cup selections last year.

But a selection further to the left, and therefore distinctly non-Borthwickianwould be to deploy a back rower Ben Earl at 12 years old. There’s no doubt he’s a very special player (“back with an attacking mentality,” a former teammate called him this week), with hybrid skills that make him easily comparable to Kwagga Smith, the beloved of Rassie Erasmus. amalgam that makes the bench of the Springbok world champions so flexible. Borthwick has previously said Earl has covered 12 in previous formations, and he has shown the ability to do so in a broken game thanks to his pace and passing range.

Halfbacks

Eben Etzebeth didn’t end Jack van Poortvliet’s career, but he could have slowed it down a bit. The veteran second row was a constant threat to Van Poortvliet’s kicks, with new kicking rules preventing a ‘guard’ or ‘post’ from stopping the charge, during England’s defeat against England. ‘South Africa. As such, England hope to recall Alex Mitchell at scrum-half; the man proved himself a master in the World Cup semi-final when England came close to defeating the Boks in France.

Apart from him, Marcus Smith is obvious at fly-half. In the lyrics by Eddie Joneswho didn’t miss the opportunity to take credit for the Harlequins number 10’s progress: “I look at Marcus today, I brought him in when he was young, and now he’s so competent in his decision making. He makes the right decisions most of the time, he’s calm, he still has that little electricity, but now he has (a) 40 tests and that’s what you get with 40 tests.

My England team will start the 2025 Six Nations

First row

Ellis Genge is an automatic pick, which speaks as much to his own abilities as to the staggering lack of depth at free agency since Joe Marler’s retirement. With a tight head, Will Stuart is an improved scrum player but does not have an England contract, suggesting Borthwick is not as confident as Genge. Asher Opoku-Fordjour is a better free player than Stuart and can play in the scrum on both sides, but he is only 20 and made his debut off the bench on Sunday.

Between them, Jamie Georges is a well-respected captain and will become England’s most capped hooker, barring injury, against Ireland in February.

Second row

Maro Itoje hasn’t missed a single minute of Six Nations rugby since 2019, a staggering record in such a physical position, and is consistently performing well in the lineout, defensive line and out wide. One of England’s vice-captains, he is also an important leader later in games and Borthwick won’t be without him if he can help. But he would have loved to have Ollie Chessum alongside him in November, the sophomore who played every game at last season’s World Cup and Six Nations but injured his knee on the eve of the Fall Nations Series and has not yet made a comeback.

“We kind of need Chessum back to play a role,” explained former England captain Courtney Lawes on The ruck podcast earlier this month.

“He’s going to be one of those players (that) doesn’t understand how important he is to a team like this. The amount of work he puts in, the amount of yards he runs, the gaps he fills, the line speed he brings, it can change your whole pack You would lose a little physicality against George Martin, but you would gain a lot in mobility.

Last row

Aside from midfield, this is perhaps the trickiest area to manage – but in modern rugby, it’s probably also the most important. (Of the last six men’s World Players of the Year, five were back-rowers.)

Chandler Cunningham South got a Jones name check on Sunday and probably did enough to land the Six Nations No.6 jersey, perhaps simply by throwing Tupou Vaa’i’s 250-pound body straight onto his back against the All Blacks, forcing a turnover and leaping to his feet to get the crowd pumped up. like a WWE star.

But that’s as far as certainty goes. If fit, both Sam Underhill And Tom Curry are desirable members of any England backline – although that’s a huge ‘if’ given Curry’s two concussions this year and dealing with a chronic hip problem and ankle surgery Underhill this summer, followed by a limp after scoring on Sunday.

Curry, a deceptively physical carrier, has been deployed at No. 8 before, but that is by no means his best position. Given the two injury records, whichever of the “Kamikaze Kids” is in good shape this week should start at opener and give a more experienced and heavier ball carrier the base of the scrum. Tom Willis secured the support of No.8 Lawrence Dallaglio, World Cup winner, in The times on Sunday, and at around 120kg he would certainly add weight with the ball in hand. Having spent a year in France following Wasps’ bankruptcy, he is now back in England and playing for Saracens. He didn’t score for England A last weekend, but 80 minutes of top-level rugby in front of Borthwick could have done him no harm in adding to his only international cap.