{"id":432920,"date":"2026-01-23T20:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/432920\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T20:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:14:09","slug":"borthwicks-task-is-to-strike-the-right-balance-with-thriving-england-ready-for-takeoff-england-rugby-union-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/432920\/","title":{"rendered":"Borthwick\u2019s task is to strike the right balance with thriving England ready for takeoff | England rugby union team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Precise formations, instant decision-making, absolute synchronicity. It is not hard to grasp why Steve Borthwick<\/a> and his assistants spent an instructive day with the Red Arrows last month in preparation for a Six Nations campaign in which they would love to soar even higher and leave their rivals gazing at their vapour trails.<\/p>\n

Squadron leader Borthwick was particularly struck by the clarity of the Red Arrows operation \u2013 \u201cThey were so clear and to the point about what they must do better\u201d \u2013 and how the world-renowned air display team choose their elite personnel. \u201cThe lead pilot basically said: \u2018Every one of these pilots is a great pilot. What we\u2019re going to select on is the character of these people.\u2019 I thought how great that is and how consistent that is with what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course there are one or two slight differences involved here. You wouldn\u2019t want to be in charge of wedging some of England\u2019s tight forwards into a tiny cockpit and taking your eye off the ball is not an option when you are flying a jet at 400mph. But if you are Borthwick, keen to expand your team\u2019s horizons and sharpen their focus, it is the perfect reminder that even the very best are always pursuing improvement.<\/p>\n

In that respect the 36-man squad for the 2026 championship is most notable for the growing competition for starting XV places after 11 consecutive Test wins. Notwithstanding some injury issues in the front row, where England are missing a few big beasts and have drafted in the 20-year-old Billy Sela from Bath plus the Northampton pair of Trevor Davison and Emmanuel Iyogun, training could be lively when the squad relocate next week to the slightly more temperate Costa Brava.<\/p>\n

Take the midfield and back three. With the exception of Fin Smith and Ollie Lawrence, both of whom will initially be rehabbing injuries in Girona, there are any number of fast-moving contenders looking to feature against Wales in a fortnight. Listening to Borthwick talking inside the England home dressing room \u2013 the nearest some of us hacks will ever come to winning a Test cap \u2013 it was hard to escape the conclusion he is genuinely excited by what his team could ultimately achieve.<\/p>\n

He even said it out loud, happy to speculate about hordes of England supporters descending en masse on Paris for the tournament\u2019s final weekend in March. \u201cI think this team has the potential to be an outstanding team,\u201d reiterated the head coach, happy to acknowledge England have not kicked off a Six Nations<\/a> campaign with as much momentum for a while.<\/p>\n

Emmanuel Iyogun of Northampton has been called into England\u2019s Six Nations squad after injuries to other front-rowers. Photograph: Icon Sport\/Alamy<\/p>\n

The trick, as ever, is to strike the right balance. As things stand, with Lawrence, Fin Smith and Tom Roebuck all doubtful for the Wales game, there seems every chance of Tommy Freeman remaining at 13 \u2013 \u201cHe\u2019s very much moving now into the centre,\u2019 said Borthwick \u2013 with his clubmate Fraser Dingwall on his inside unless Max Ojomoh or Seb Atkinson absolutely rip it up next week.<\/p>\n

That would leave Manny Feyi\u2011Waboso on one wing, either Cadan Murley or Henry Arundell on the other and probably Freddie Steward at full-back unless the fit-again George Furbank looks instantly back to his best after an injury-ravaged year. Borthwick talked up Furbank\u2019s decision\u2011making and ability to slide\u00a0in at 10 if required \u2013 he left out his appropriately RAF-style moustache \u2013 but for the first couple of rounds it could be that Marcus Smith, Elliot Daly or Henry Slade are invited to offer bench versatility instead.<\/p>\n

Back in the front row, however, Borthwick freely admits he needs experienced old soldiers like Jamie George, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ellis Genge to step up in the absence of the injured Will Stuart and Asher Opoku-Fordjour and the currently unavailable Fin Baxter. With Maro Itoje unable to attend the Six Nations launch in Edinburgh on Monday because of family commitments following the death of his mother last month, the 35-year-old George will deputise for him and is still seen as an essential cog despite his decision to retire at the end of next year.<\/p>\n

At the opposite end of the experience scale is Sela but the age-grade international has long been earmarked for the top level. Borthwick has tracked his progress for three years and, in a happy coincidence, England\u2019s scrum coach Tom Harrison \u2013 \u201cTom knows about every prop playing rugby in England down to about level seven,\u201d said Borthwick \u2013 attended the same school, Beechen Cliff, as his protege.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideWales full-back Liam Williams retires from international rugbyShow<\/p>\n

The former Wales and British and Ireland Lions wing Liam Williams announced on Friday that he has retired from international rugby.\u00a0 “I have decided that the time has come to say goodbye,” he posted on Instagram.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old won 93 caps and scored 21 tries for Wales since making his debut in 2012. He went on to win two Six Nations titles, including the 2019 Grand Slam, and reached the semi-finals of that year\u2019s World Cup \u2013 although injury ruled him out of the match.<\/p>\n

Williams also won five caps for the Lions across two tours, first to New Zealand in 2017 when he was the starting full-back in all three Tests and then in the Covid-affected 2021 tour to South Africa.<\/p>\n

“From working as a scaffolder in Port Talbot steelworks, to pulling on that famous red jersey,” he said in his post. “It\u2019s been a journey built on hard work, sacrifice and the support of so many people along the way. The dedicated and loyal Welsh fans. Amazing teammates, great coaches, the backroom staff and friends.”<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

For now, though, there is still one more weekend of Prem games to get through unscathed. Exeter\u2019s Greg Fisilau, even so, will be walking on air having edged ahead of other possible No 8 contenders such as Emeka Ilione, Alex Dombrandt and Alfie Barbeary. Iyogun, preferred to Bath\u2019s Beno Obano, will be similarly thrilled.<\/p>\n

It just leaves England\u2019s management to finalise the right mix against Wales and to maximise the opportunity ahead of them. Borthwick was as taken aback as anyone by Scott Robertson\u2019s recent departure as All Blacks coach \u2013 \u201cI was really surprised and very disappointed for Scott because I think he\u2019s a great coach\u201d \u2013 but the time for contemplative chin stroking is over. As the Red Arrows have reminded him, you don\u2019t get ahead by resting on your laurels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Precise formations, instant decision-making, absolute synchronicity. It is not hard to grasp why Steve Borthwick and his assistants…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-432920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}