Former international stars Mike Brown and Jonny May have selected their backlines for England’s Autumn Nations Series, and have highlighted the return of Adam Radwan as a must-have in Steve Borthwick’s side.

Appearing on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast, the duo started off on the same page, both adamant about Alex Mitchell and George Ford’s selections, but that was where the agreement stopped.

May chose to pick Tommy Freeman at outside centre with Ollie Lawrence inside him, based purely on the immense strength in depth that England currently have on the wing. Brown wasn’t convinced, however, claiming that players should be selected where they’re used to playing. As a result, his choice at 13 was Lawrence with Fraser Dingwall in at 12 as a “glue player”.

For the wing options, both were in great support of the “X-factor” Radwan returning to the squad, with Brown suggesting that the England environment would be perfect for “the best coaches in the country, supposedly”, to help grow his game.

Mike Brown doesn’t back down

Ollie Hassell-Collins was also a player that the two former stars have been impressed with, but May suggested that Tom Roebuck should start ahead of him. Brown responded, saying: “You cannot tell me he is above Ollie Hassell-Collins in any wing play, positional play, kicking game, under the high ball, and Hassell-Collins is the top try scorer… I don’t understand it.”

Another player Brown hasn’t been too impressed with is the new Bath star Henry Arundell, claiming that he’s not at the same level as the other options “in terms of nuts and bolts at international level.”

Neither Hassell-Collins nor Radwan currently make it into Brown’s team, however. Instead, it’s the regular duo of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Freeman that make the cut, with Elliot Daly in at full-back if fit.

Mike Brown’s England backline: Alex Mitchell, George Ford, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Fraser Dingwall, Ollie Lawrence, Tommy Freeman, Elliot Daly

Jonny May’s England backline: Alex Mitchell, George Ford, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Ollie Lawrence, Tommy Freeman, Tom Roebuck, George Furbank



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The Brown-May relationship

It wasn’t difficult to spot the professional friction between the two personalities on the show. May, always relaxed, had his shoes off and donned his colourful socks, while the famously ‘angry’ Brown sat next to him, prepared to debate any contentious point. Both of legendary status within the England rugby ranks, host Alex Payne attempted to get inside the duo’s past relationship, asking how the two of them got on during their playing days.

“We had a rough relationship. Ups and downs,” said Brown.

May added the much-needed context, saying: “I drove him mad in training and games sometimes, but then there were games where we brought the best out of each other. There’s respect that we have for one another. We both played some really good rugby for England. We won games, we lost games. There was Eddie to deal with; there was a lot to deal with. I enjoyed playing with Browny.”

Clarifying why he was driven mad in training, Brown added: “I was intense as a player. I would want certain things a certain way. But you can’t get into the head of someone like this [May], because he is a free spirit. He had the physical ability to be able to do things that I would never be able to do. I don’t think he knew what he was doing half the time, especially early on in Jonny’s career.”

As we know, both stars had a very successful time in international colours – a bond that they share.

“I was very, very raw coming in. Browny would be going unders, I’d be going overs. But we were a part of a team that got something going, and Browny was a big part of that,” concluded May.

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