{"id":822122,"date":"2026-11-02T21:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T21:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/822122\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T21:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T21:58:10","slug":"alex-mitchell-out-of-nations-championship-opener-in-fresh-england-injury-blow-england-rugby-union-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/822122\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Mitchell out of Nations Championship opener in fresh England injury blow | England rugby union team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northampton scrum-half Alex Mitchell has been ruled out of England\u2019s November opener against Australia on Sunday, with Bristol\u2019s Harry Randall and Bath\u2019s Ben Spencer called into the squad named by the head coach, Steve Borthwick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mitchell, established as the first\u2011choice No 9 under Borthwick, damaged a hamstring in Northampton\u2019s Prem win against Gloucester<\/a> on Saturday and will have a scan on Tuesday to determine the extent of the injury.<\/p>\n

Archie McParland, Mitchell\u2019s uncapped clubmate, is also sidelined for the Wallabies match after sustaining a calf injury training with England last week, following his second call-up to the senior squad. A major scrum-half rethink is consequently needed by Borthwick before a highly significant sequence of four Nations Championship<\/a> matches.<\/p>\n

The injury-enforced absence of Mitchell and McParland means either Randall or Spencer will be on the bench against Australia, with Leicester\u2019s Jack van Poortvliet expected to start at No 9.<\/p>\n

While Mitchell is guaranteed to return when he recovers from injury, this week represents a priceless chance for Randall and Spencer to state their respective cases, with the World Cup less than a year away.<\/p>\n

Borthwick and his staff will consider how swapping Mitchell and McParland for Randall and Spencer may affect tactics against the Wallabies. Randall is famed for a sniping running game with Bristol while Spencer, who recently returned to action for Bath after shoulder surgery, is known for his exemplary tactical kicking.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the backs Gloucester\u2019s Seb Atkinson, Exeter\u2019s Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Fin Smith of Northampton are all named in England\u2019s 36-man squad despite recent injury concerns<\/a>. Max Ojomoh of Bath and Saracens\u2019 Noah Caluori drop out of the group named last week.<\/p>\n

The in-form Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith is widely expected to push his namesake Fin for the starting No 10 jersey while George Furbank, who is also in scintillating form for Quins, is a strong candidate to start at full-back.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideEngland squadShow<\/p>\n

Forwards: Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Ollie Chessum (Leicester), Arthur Clark (Gloucester), Alex Coles (Northampton), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale), Ben Curry (Sale), Tom Curry (Sale), Theo Dan (Saracens), Ben Earl (Saracens), Greg Fisilau (Exeter), Jamie George (Saracens), Ellis Genge (Bristol), Joe Heyes (Leicester), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton), George Martin (Saracens), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale), Tom Pearson (Northampton), Henry Pollock (Northampton), Will Stuart (Bath).<\/p>\n

Backs: Seb Atkinson (Gloucester), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter), George Ford (Sale), Tommy Freeman (Northampton), George Furbank (Harlequins), Will Joseph (Gloucester), Joe Marchant (Sale), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Harry Randall (Bristol), Henry Slade (Exeter), Fin Smith (Northampton), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath), Freddie Steward (Leicester), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester).<\/p>\n

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

There is one change to the forwards from the training squad named last week by Borthwick<\/a>: the 21-year-old Bath hooker Kepu Tuipulotu, another uncapped player, drops out because of injury, with Theo Dan of Saracens returning.<\/p>\n

Borthwick\u2019s squad of 20 forwards and 16 backs gathered at Pennyhill Park on Monday night, with the Prem now on a break until December. After kicking off against Australia in round four of the Nations Championship, England will meet Japan and New Zealand in rounds five and six before the finals weekend at the end of the month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to getting back to Allianz Stadium for four important Test matches against top-level opposition,\u201d Borthwick said. \u201cThese fixtures take on added significance this autumn as they represent our final opportunity to face southern hemisphere opposition before next year\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFacing Australia next Sunday is an exciting challenge. They have played a significant amount of Test rugby in recent months, and we know the quality and experience they will bring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scotland have had a double injury blow of their own before the conclusion of their Nations Championship campaign, with Jamie Ritchie and Elliot Millar Mills ruled out of all four November matches.<\/p>\n

Ritchie is expected to be out for four to six weeks after the flanker sustained a suspected medial collateral ligament injury in Glasgow\u2019s United Rugby Championship win against Lions last Friday. The prop Millar Mills picked up a knee injury during Newcastle\u2019s Prem defeat by Saracens on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Three Edinburgh forwards \u2013 the props Ollie Blyth-Lafferty and D\u2019Arcy Rae, and the flanker Freddy Douglas \u2013 have been called into Gregor Townsend\u2019s squad. Scotland face New Zealand on Saturday before Tests against Australia and Japan, all at Murrayfield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Northampton scrum-half Alex Mitchell has been ruled out of England\u2019s November opener against Australia on Sunday, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-822122","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\/822122","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=822122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}