Steve Borthwick looks set to make an unprecedented overhaul of his England back line for the Italy match on Saturday, plotting a change in every position.
After the 42-21 defeat by Ireland left England stunned in the Six Nations, Borthwick is prepared to wield the axe. The Times understands that Tommy Freeman is set to be the only survivor from the starting back line from that match, but he will move from the wing back to outside centre — where he played against Wales and Scotland — now that Ollie Lawrence is out with a knee injury.
Alex Mitchell has been ruled out of the rest of the Six Nations with a hamstring injury, so Ben Spencer is in line to start at No9 with a new playmaking axis outside him; Fin Smith at fly half and Seb Atkinson at inside centre. Those two have never played a senior match for England together, but both were Worcester Warriors players before the club went bust in 2022, and represented England’s Under-18 and Under-20 sides together. George Ford, who has started nine of the past ten Tests at fly half, is expected to be dropped, and the Northampton Saints centre Fraser Dingwall will also be left out.
Fin Smith sat out of Monday’s training session due to illness, but his fitness for Saturday’s match is not in doubt.
With Freeman returning to No13, more changes are expected in the back three. Borthwick is set to drop Freddie Steward, who was taken off before half-time in the galling defeat by Ireland after receiving a yellow card, so must pick between Marcus Smith, Elliot Daly and George Furbank at full back.
Marcus Smith was considered the frontrunner for full back. However Borthwick was last night considering a late switch to Daly at No15, in order to bolster England’s experience and long kicking game. Daly, 33, is a three-time British & Irish Lion and has 74 England caps. He has only worn No15 once for England under Borthwick, at home to Italy in the 47-24 victory last year.
Harlequins’ Cadan Murley is ready to be installed on one wing with Tom Roebuck returning on the other. Roebuck was left out of the team against Ireland, having started in the 48-7 win against Wales and in the 31-20 loss at Murrayfield a week later. Ford is likely to drop out of the match-day 23 entirely, with two fly halves, the Smiths, in the match-day 23.
After an impressive run in the England team, Ford struggled in the defeats against Scotland and Ireland
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Ben Earl, the back-row, will win his 50th England cap on Saturday. He revealed how several players acknowledged their underperformance when the squad regathered last Wednesday in Bagshot.
“There’s been some challenge from within the playing group,” Earl said. “A few of us had a meeting last Wednesday and laid it bare. There are people in the squad who don’t feel they’ve pulled their weight or performed well enough.
“Some people have come forward and said they need to be a lot better at this or been a bit off on this. We’ve stripped it bare. Again, hopefully it’s something we can look back on again when we play more big games over the next 18 months and we can say ‘I won’t forget those conversations.’”
Ollie Chessum, the lock, sat out Monday’s training, so could be deployed as a substitute if he is not fully fit.
Borthwick has never altered his entire back line during a Six Nations campaign, so this represents a marked change in tactics, and a brutal cull of those who underperformed last time out. According to statistician Russ Petty, the most changes England have ever made to their back line between Six Nations matches is four, once each in 2003, 2006, and 2010.
The only other similar overhauls to Borthwick’s backs have come with context. The England head coach only retained Ford, at fly half, between the summer 2025 Test against the United States and the Australia game which began the Autumn Nations Series last year. Also, between the Wales match of the 2025 Six Nations and the first summer Test against Argentina last year only Roebuck made both line-ups. That was because the British & Irish Lions tour removed both Smiths, Mitchell, Daly and Freeman.
The only time Borthwick has refreshed his backs to such an extent between Tests was at the 2023 World Cup in France during the pool stage. He changed all seven backs between beating Japan 34-12 and Chile 71-0, allowing the wider squad to play the South American side, plus Owen Farrell who had returned from a ban, and then only retained Farrell for the 18-17 win over Samoa.
England are on the ropes in the Six Nations, having lost back-to-back games, battling to finish in the top half of the table with their title dreams dead.
The squad’s soul searching has included an all-in chat with the 2003 World Cup winners, who offered insights into the setbacks they suffered along their journey, a visit from Matt Weston, who recently won two gold medals in the skeleton at the Winter Olympics, and skills coach Kevin Sinfield.
Earl said some players in the squad “don’t feel they’ve pulled their weight” after England lost to Scotland and Ireland
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Sinfield relayed tales of how he responded to poor defeats in his rugby league career and Weston told the team a relatable story about how he failed to deliver at the 2022 Games in Beijing, finishing 15th, but learnt to own the expectation upon him as the favourite in 2026.
“The boys are hearing this and thinking it really resonated with what we’ve been going through. Frankly, we’ve been favourites for the past three games and haven’t delivered in two of them,” Earl said.
England face a defining two weeks. First is Italy in Rome this Saturday, then France in Paris on Super Saturday, March 14. Earl believes that the side England are facing this weekend is the best Italian team they will ever play — but he senses a response is coming.
“I’ve never played against a better Italy team than the one we will play on Saturday. You are talking about world XVs, and there are some people in that squad now that you’d be like, ‘What about him? That’s a good shout,’ ” Earl explained.
“These are the weeks where boys have a little glint in their eye. They mean business. You look at some of the big guys in our squad and go, ‘Something good is coming.’ We are all hoping that is going to materialise on Saturday.”