Ex-England enforcer Courtney Lawes has recalled the video that nearly left him vomiting during the recent Autumn Nations Series.<\/p>\n
Steve Borthwick\u2019s side won all four of their November matches, defeating Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina on successive weekends at Allianz Stadium Twickenham<\/a>.<\/p>\n Their 100 per cent record has left them with an 11-match winning streak heading into 2026, and they have been labelled favourites to win a Six Nations Grand Slam even though they must face defending champions France in Paris in the final round of matches on March 14.<\/p>\n Lawes<\/a>, who retired as a Test rugby player following the 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-final defeat to South Africa, is midway through his second season playing for Brive in the French Pro D2, and he made his eighth appearance of the 2025\/26 campaign in last Thursday\u2019s home win over Colomiers to lift his team to eighth place on the table.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s not my generation\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n The 36-year-old won 105 caps for England<\/a> during his career and although now based in France, he remains busy on the international scene where his media punditry includes writing a column for The Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n Signing off on England\u2019s unbeaten November, he felt compelled to reference a video that went viral during the series.<\/p>\n The dance involving Tommy Freeman, Henry Pollock, Fin Smith and Freddie Steward wasn\u2019t the sort of thing Lawes would ever consider doing, but he claimed it was evidence about how head coach Borthwick is willing to embrace off-field characters as long as they deliver on the pitch.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone has now seen the TikTok dance video that Tommy Freeman, Henry Pollock, Fin Smith and Freddie Steward filmed. I nearly vomited when I saw that. You won\u2019t catch me doing a TikTok dance any time soon. But it\u2019s not my generation. I don\u2019t want thousands of followers on social media,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a misperception about Borthwick that he would disapprove of that kind of thing and look to stamp out those kinds of characters. Rugby always comes down to one thing \u2013 if you perform consistently on the pitch, nobody cares.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s hot and who\u2019s not: Eben Etzebeth\u2019s \u2018inexcusable\u2019 act, a weekend of shock results and Antoine Dupont\u2019s return<\/a><\/p>\n Why Eddie Jones believes Eben Etzebeth\u2019s eye-gouge was \u2018a minor incident\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt was similar to me as I made my way through the game. I wasn\u2019t doing things like TikTok videos but I am not orthodox within rugby in how I go about things. But if you deliver on the pitch, nobody cares.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is the bottom line. That will be Borthwick\u2019s attitude to Pollock, 20, and the other guys who have a personality so opposite to his natural demeanour. The only characters you need to rein in are the ones who are disruptive and I don\u2019t think that is the case. This is just a different generation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe boys should act however is natural to them. But that is secondary to them being on the same page because it doesn\u2019t matter how many characters and how much energy you have in the team, it will disperse if you don\u2019t have a solid game plan.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawes expressed his delight that England indeed have a solid game plan and are now being spoken about as genuine Grand Slam contenders.<\/p>\n Casting his mind back to some TV work he did in November 2024 at Twickenham, he said: \u201cTo think, this time last year I was debating with Ugo Monye on television whether England were in crisis because they had suffered narrow defeats in three consecutive Tests against New Zealand, plus Australia and South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Hungry\u2019 Henry Arundell likened to a Springboks legend and the \u2018sign\u2019 that shows he \u2018wants to improve\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n