England head coach Steve Borthwick could well follow the example set by the Springboks and France and attempt a 7-1 split among the replacements.<\/p>\n
The tactical innovation, which was first used by South Africa in a 2023 Rugby World Cup warm-up, sees the team stack their bench with forwards.<\/p>\n
Although the Springboks<\/a> used it twice more during the tournament \u2013 against Ireland in the pool stages and versus the All Blacks in the final \u2013 it was over a year before head honcho Rassie Erasmus rolled the dice again.<\/p>\n Since then, France have adopted it to great success, doing so on three successive occasions during the 2025 Six Nations as they hammered Italy, Ireland and Scotland to claim the title.<\/p>\n England\u2019s back-row depth<\/p>\n According to the Telegraph<\/a>, England are \u2018exploring\u2019 the option and could be the next side to try it with the wealth of back-rowers at his disposal potentially convincing Borthwick to trial the 7-1 next season.<\/p>\n The back five of the scrum has become a real area of strength for the English<\/a> and the head coach is struggling to fit all that talent into the team.<\/p>\n It obviously comes with inherent risk, given that there will only be one out-and-out back among the replacements, but flanker and number eight Ben Earl is someone who has covered centre in the past.<\/p>\n England also believe that Alex Dombrandt is an option there should injuries arise during a game, and that hybrid player is crucial for the tactic to be viable.<\/p>\n In March, Les Bleus were forced to put a forward into the backline against Ireland following the departure of Antoine Dupont and Pierre-Louis Barassi, but Oscar Jegou did a magnificent job at centre.<\/p>\n \u201cLonger-term, with how many good back-rowers we\u2019ve got \u2013 the list is long \u2013 it makes sense to have as many of those players in the squad, in a six-two, potentially a seven-one, as possible, especially when we have the positional versatility that we have,\u201d Borthwick said after they defeated Argentina 2-0.<\/p>\n \u201c[Alex] Dommers [covers centre] really well and we\u2019ve seen Ben Earl do it in the past. I want to keep building that as I see six-two as the long-term plan, to get as many of these good players in.\u201d<\/p>\n Springboks accused of \u2018abusing rugby traditions\u2019 as Rassie Erasmus \u2018discriminates against backs\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n