At England’s World Cup training camp, Steve Borthwick is not one for cloak and dagger (or hoods for that matter). As someone who narrowly missed out on the 2003 World Cup squad, having been part of the wider group, Borthwick is determined to be as upfront as possible with his players. He has held countless meetings with them, explaining where they are in the pecking order and as the 41 members of his first major squad convene on Sunday, he is sure to do so again.
“I believe players want to know exactly where they stand,” Borthwick says. “In week one and two, we had players come in and I sat with them straight away and said: ‘This is where you stand and this is what I think you need to do to move forward.’ That’s the first thing I do. Why? As a player, I always remember that I wanted to know what I needed to do. I didn’t want ambiguity. My job was to get on with rugby and train, not to be second-guessing anything.”
It goes some way to explaining why there is a touch less intrigue over England’s final squad than four years ago. Players are not kept guessing – to the extent that they requested Eddie Jones name his squad early – and he will hope to avoid a situation such as in 2011 when Chris Robshaw trained the house down only to be overlooked by Martin Johnson, who showed misguided loyalty to more senior players.
“You want to be treated fairly,” Borthwick adds. “That’s what I’ve tried to do, and to be evidence-based in everything that I have done.”
Though Zach Mercer’s omission was a surprise, so, too, Alex Mitchell’s, there is a straightforwardness to Borthwick’s World Cup squad-building, not least because there are so many familiar faces from 2019. That he unveiled his 41-man training squad in a windowless conference room in Teddington – Jones did his at Japan House in central London in a flurry of flashing lights – only emphasises the point.
It helps Borthwick that he can select 33 players in his final squad, two more than Jones could in 2019. He does not have a quick turnaround to worry about either – the shortest gap in between pool matches in France will be six days – which is significant, because Jones made a point of selecting multiple players who were only going to play once and, more important, were not going to moan about it.
Instead, Borthwick has latitude. He plans to take three scrum-halves – rather than gamble with two as Jones did – and he has dropped the biggest hint yet that he intends to find room for Marcus Smith and George Ford as well as his captain, Owen Farrell, even if three fly-halves borders on superfluous.
“Lots of countries around the world would want the depth we have with those three players. Owen’s ability to play 12 adds another dimension to it,” Borthwick says. “That is one of the things we’ll be looking towards. There will be things that our opposition won’t be expecting.”
Borthwick has a good idea of about 28 of his final 33 – to be named on 7 August – and casting an eye over the group of 41, the back row is the area of the pitch that looks least predictable. Much depends on where Borthwick intends to field Courtney Lawes and whether Billy Vunipola proves himself fit enough but Tom Curry, Jack Willis, Lewis Ludlam, Alex Dombrandt, Tom Pearson and Sam Underhill are also vying for selection in an area in which England were found wanting during the Six Nations.
His decision to bring Joe Marler back into the fold is an interesting one, too, given the veteran loosehead has not represented England since November 2021. He took a bit of convincing, Borthwick says, but brings experience and set-piece acumen in abundance. “I’d been talking to him for a while about how serious I was and how much value I saw in him coming back into the England squad,” Borthwick adds. “He came back and he said that he wanted to look me in the eyes and see if I was serious: ‘How serious you were about building this England team and creating an environment?’ I said: ‘I’m serious. Now you’re looking in my eyes, what do you see?’ He said: ‘I think you’re serious.’ I’m delighted that Joe is part of this right now.”
• This article was amended on 2 July 2023. The caption on an embedded image referred to George North instead of George Ford.
