At some stage there will be better times ahead for English rugby. They have an encouraging amount of young talent, a decent age profile and another 15 months to develop prior to the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Get it right – and they have a more than promising draw – and the sunlit uplands could yet be glimpsed in Australia next year.
That, at least, is the cosy scenario. First, though, there is the equivalent of a precarious looking rope bridge to be crossed by those named in Steve Borthwick’s squad for this summer’s inaugural leg of the Nations Championship. Three Tests in three continents in successive weeks with a squad lacking its regular captain and on a four-match losing streak is not the idyllic travel brochure it might have been.
