Tommy Freeman<\/a>. On form and Test evidence, both are miles ahead of the rookie Caluori (indeed Tom Roebuck and Henry Arundell also have claims).<\/p>\n![\"Sale](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/97e57f9c-0675-43ba-ae53-662a4057e7a0.jpg\")
Caluori, of Saracens, is the Prem\u2019s leading tryscorer and has twice scored five times in a match this seasonGetty<\/p>\n
Fifth choice on form, if he does start this summer it will probably be at the expense of Borthwick\u2019s best, most accomplished wing. Freeman would not, of course, be dropped. He would be moved to outside centre where he yearns to play. The problem is that, so far, he hasn\u2019t looked anything like as good in the centre as he is on the wing.<\/p>\n
His defensive reading of a game is first-rate but his running lines and quality of distribution are more predictable in the first case and all over the place in the second. Even so, he has the knack of scoring. A try a Test in the 2025 Six Nations and three, predominantly playing centre, in this year\u2019s championship.<\/p>\n
His spatial awareness is superb. But perhaps the freedom of playing in the wide channels enables him to pose more of a threat with those exquisite late angles we see for Northampton. It\u2019s quality of ball England must provide him, not quantity. England have been guilty of using him to crash, rather than carve.<\/p>\n
If Borthwick is to select Caluori, 19, Freeman has to play in what has, to date, been his inferior position. There are good reasons to continue with the experiment. England do not possess world-class outside centres, there is a hole waiting to be filled. Ollie Lawrence is struggling to even look like a Test No13. There\u2019s a sharpness missing. Potentially Freeman is the pick of them, but what he needs is time. England\u2019s back line could be immeasurably better for choosing the long over short-term selection.<\/p>\n
![\"England](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c5d2c2ed-1316-419a-b20f-864d20d6e921.jpg\")
Freeman is a truly world-class performer on the wing but has struggled to deliver on his promise at centreBob Bradford\/CameraSport\/Getty<\/p>\n
The Western Force head coach, Simon Cron, said of Zac Lomax, another Australian recruit from rugby league: \u201cCan he attack as a 13 and defend on the wing or defend at 13 and attack on the wing?\u201d This is the sort of question England should be asking themselves of players such as Freeman. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s why my scepticism from the autumn internationals has been replaced with a conviction that England should not pick their first-choice left wing; that they should instead opt for a world-class wing at centre and choose an uncapped teenager to fill one of the few shirts where England has a world-class incumbent.<\/p>\n
The easy part of building to the World Cup has been the choice of the forthcoming squad. Having the courage to play Caluori this summer and stick with Freeman at No13 \u2014 now there\u2019s a statement to get the critics off Borthwick\u2019s back. And if Caluori has a horrid time of it in Johannesburg, there must only be sympathy and support from those of us who yearn for a bold and balanced England in attack with one eye on 2027, the other on a driving maul. That\u2019s a promise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naming the England training squad on Monday is the easy part for Steve Borthwick. Naming the England 23…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-588528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Dejected](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5f70d91a-10d9-429f-9e94-d79d231fd941.jpg\")
Wilkinson, left, trudges off the pitch in Brisbane after the 76-0 defeat by Australia on the infamous \u201cTour from Hell\u201d in 1998, when Sir Clive Woodward blooded several young players who later played a part in their 2003 World Cup triumphColorsport\/Shutterstock\/Rex<\/p>\n