Northampton Saints scrum-half Alex Mitchell has emerged as a major doubt for England’s Nations Championship Tests in July, in yet another blow for Steve Borthwick.
Mitchell, who featured in every match-day squad in last year’s British and Irish Lions tour, suffered a hamstring injury in England’s recent three-day alignment camp at Pennyhill Park, which comes after he also missed the latter stages of the Six Nations with another hamstring issue. This fresh injury is on the other leg, though.
“He’s pulled it, and he’s done a decent job on it,” Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson said of the scrum-half’s injury.
“It’s going to be a push to get him any rugby for us this season, but I don’t know about England’s timelines.”
While he did admit he was not aware of any England timelines, Dowson’s admission that Mitchell will miss the rest of the domestic season will surely worry Borthwick looking towards their Tests against the Springboks, Fiji and Argentina.
But, what options does the England boss have at his disposal now? Well, here’s a rundown of the leading options at scrum-half.
Northampton Saints boss set for England talks after Alex Mitchell injury: ‘We can do better’
Test starter: Jack van Poortvliet
The absence of Mitchell and the ongoing chatter around Ben Spencer (which we’ll come onto later) could see Jack van Poortvliet return to the starting scrum-half role. He’s had a pretty bumpy ride at Test level following the horror injury which ruled him out of the 2023 World Cup, but he has been in red-hot form for Leicester Tigers this year and could be set for a big July with England as a result.
He is just doing all the nuts and bolts superbly well for Leicester. His distribution is bang on, his control of the attacking speed keeps Leicester in total control and crucially, he backs that up with some good kicking and the occasional snipe too.
This feels like a big summer for him looking towards the 2027 World Cup.
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In the mix: Archie McParland, Charlie Bracken
Borthwick is starting to thicken out the depth chart at scrum-half, as proved by his selection of five number nines for last week’s camp, and the young duo Archie McParland and Charlie Bracken will rightly be in the mix this summer.
Both men seem to be playing with real confidence right now, which is such a crucial thing for young players and will certainly bring bundles of energy as a result. Crucially, too, they both love to play attacking rugby, be it with injections of tempo around the ruck or in the carry, and that is exactly what Borthwick will want from them.
This also feels like a really good time to bring them both fully into the group, fast-track their development and give them a real flavour of Test match rugby, with the pair very much the future of the number nine jersey.
Outside bet: Harry Randall, Raffi Quirke
They have both been dipped in and out of the Test squad in recent times, and could be set to do that once again this July. They potentially sit just below the aforementioned group at the time of writing, with both men missing out on the recent alignment camp, and potentially face a big fight to get back in the mix.
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Injuries have not helped their cases, though, but with both players enjoying quick, attacking rugby where they can create broken field, they would do a good job if called back into the squad.
Bolter: Lucas Friday
Another youngster bang in form this season is Lucas Friday, who could be nudging his way into the pecking order too.
It would be a big call to bring him straight into the mix, but like McParland and Bracken, he is really playing with confidence and a skip in his step, which is exactly when you should start looking at youngsters. Like the others, he also likes to inject pace into the attack, and he also reads the game exceptionally well.
Again, it’s a big shout, but he deserves to be in the conversation.
Curious case: Ben Spencer
He shouldn’t automatically be ruled out of the summer tour, but his ongoing shoulder injury could cause some concern looking towards the Nations Championship. The scrum-half has been dipped in and out for Bath in recent weeks, making just six appearances for the reigning champions since returning from the Six Nations, and was also sent home early from the alignment camp as well.
Should he be fully fit for the summer tour, he will likely come straight in as England’s starting nine, but for now, he is a slight worry. Watch this space.
READ MORE: England’s worrying injury list ahead of Nations Championship as Steve Borthwick sweats over key men