Archive November 2, 2025

Steve Borthwick and his players have never touched on it, but the Australian Rugby World Cup is just two years away.

Given England’s impressive strength and depth, a small number of players will play a lot of rugby over the next two years and still won’t be chosen.

Borthwick, who gave a nod to the stars of the successful summer tour to Argentina, was the starting choice for Saturday’s 25-7 victory over Australia.

When you have benches like England’s, which featured six tourists from the British and Irish Lions, you are talking about the highest echelons of international team sports.

England hasn’t had a bench like that for a very long time.

Borthwick consistently plays with that much power on the bench because you need that skill, experience, and finesse from the beginning of the game when you play against better opponents.

If you are Australia and witness a Lions front row of Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, and Will Stuart, you are thinking, “oh, goodness,” after all that graft in the first 60 minutes.

You also possess Henry Pollock’s individual skill and ability to grab a ball with one hand and be in the right place at the right moment to score a crucial try.

It is a fantastic tool, and it is now being used with such a clever and effective strategy.

There is just something a little bit different about the make-up, the talent, the willingness to be a part of the extended squad, and the culture within it when you look at this England squad, which we have been saying for a while.

Everyone is eager to see and take pleasure in England’s current success.

To be very successful at World Cups, the hooker, number eight, scrum-half, fly-half, inside center, and full-back are frequently very key positions.

It will be interesting to see how Borthwick plays it this autumn if those positions consistently indicate that they are prepared to advance to the World Cup.

Tommy Freeman has had a really good start to his Test career at age 13 despite the fact that the fly-half and full-back positions are still very much up for grabs and a little in the middle.

Perhaps the best course of action would be to have two or three fly-halves for various oppositions and styles. The back row can be compared to the front row.

During this eight-game winning run, something clicked, perhaps due to senior leadership.

It might be something Maro Itoje, who was only appointed captain in January, is referring to as skipper.

Jamie George and George Ford’s presence has also helped that.

Although I don’t mean to insult Owen Farrell, Ford and George both have very different leadership styles from Farrell.

Maybe Itoje, George, and Ford’s softer, more composed leadership is allowing the players to learn more?

The coaches and management team will take into account so many variables to determine what this squad’s best performance will be.

The team’s and its players’ confidence will depend on the outcome of the next three games against Fiji, New Zealand, and Argentina.

As players become more confident in expressing themselves in different ways over the course of the next two years and the Allianz Stadium becomes a fortress, that confidence will naturally translate into their performances away from home.

Will you know that you can defeat France in a Grand Slam match in Paris?

If England’s players are successful in advancing up the world rankings after winning the following three games, there might be an opportunity for the England management to use some pressure on them.

In contrast to previous years filled with doubts about leadership or a lack of confidence in some areas, the team could be moved forward in a different way given that the team would have won 11 games in a row.

To help them advance in the world game, the focus will be on teamwork and top-notch performance rather than just excuses.

Quietly, it is important to know where England would be in the eyes of Scotland, Wales, Italy, Ireland, and France if they won the next three games.

It might change how people perceive and interpret playing England, something that other teams haven’t done for a while.