Former British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton believes that a strong England team benefits rugby as a whole.<\/p>\n
Steve Borthwick guided his side to a Rugby World Cup semi-final in 2023 after taking over from Eddie Jones in the build-up to the tournament.<\/p>\n
While the team endured a dip in form and results thereafter, things turned in 2025 with England going on a run of 11 straight victories to end the year on a high and in third place on the overall World Rugby rankings.<\/p>\n
A strong England is good for the game<\/p>\n
They now turn their attention to the Six Nations, after which they head to South Africa for the start of the Nations Championship.<\/p>\n
England\u2019s<\/a> run of form at the end of 2025 has led many to rank only the Springboks ahead of Borthwick\u2019s men, and Warburton<\/a> is pleased to see the side doing well.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will not go down well in Wales, of course, but a strong England benefits everyone,\u201d the Wales legend wrote in his Times column<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of television viewing figures, it is their team that attracts the majority of eyeballs to the Six Nations.<\/p>\n \u201cCommercially they are a real heavyweight and their recent rise up the world rankings will have only strengthened that position because, like it or not, money makes professional sport go round. World Rugby<\/a> needs a strong England, and it sure looks like we are all going to get one of those in the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Wales, Warburton hopes that his country can compete for fourth place in the Six Nations after back-to-back Wooden Spoon finishes and a \u2018horrible\u2019 Autumn Nations Series where they were thrashed by the All Blacks and Springboks.<\/p>\n Planet Rugby\u2019s seven bold predictions for 2026: Springboks reign to \u2018end\u2019, a new job for Ronan O\u2019Gara and Gregor Townsend\u2019s last Six Nations<\/a><\/p>\n Six Nations 2026: Rating the benches that will decide the Championship as England\u2019s \u2018structural weapon\u2019 and Ireland\u2019s \u2018central problem\u2019 assessed<\/a><\/p>\n Patience for Wales<\/p>\n Steve Tandy\u2019s charges did score four tries against New Zealand, and their performance against Scott Robertson\u2019s men gives the former flanker some hope.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw enough from that game to suggest that, with the three blue teams \u2013 France, Scotland and Italy \u2013 at home, they may be able to nick a win over Italy or Scotland, and hopefully both,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cI really want that, not only because I\u2019m Welsh, but also because the world game needs a strong Wales. You need as many strong teams as possible in the top 13 in the world, and at the moment that means those in 11th, 12th and 13th \u2013 Wales, Japan and Georgia respectively \u2013 being much better than they are.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he also calls for patience after hearing positive feedback from his brother.<\/p>\n \u201cAs for the national team, everyone in Wales needs to be more patient. This is not a problem that can be solved overnight, but I am already hearing good things about the young players coming through,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cMy brother, Ben, who is a physio and someone whose rugby judgment I really trust, has been working with the national under-19s and 20s and he is adamant that there are some potential stars coming through.<\/p>\n \u201cThat has not necessarily been the case for a while, but it may be five years before we can see them really making a mark in a competitive team.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n