Steve Borthwick has taken a punt on a group of players snubbed by Eddie Jones re-energising England and fuelling a revival.
Joe Marchant, Ben Curry, Max Malins, Ben Earls and Ollie Lawrence did not get a sniff when Jones was in charge despite often playing the lights out for their clubs. Borthwick wasted no time in correcting that - enlisting each for national service against Scotland at Twickenham tomorrow.
“These players are picked because of what they have brought, because of how well they are playing, because of their strengths,” he said firmly. “They have got an opportunity, and that’s what they wanted, what they were desperate for. Now they have to take it. And I back them to do so.”
Borthwick came to power promising a clean slate for all - but not to make change for changes sake. His decision yesterday to drop Manu Tuilagi might be the talk of the town, but his calculation is as simple as it is honest: Marchant is in better form. Still, axing a player of such standing is a huge call. So the Cumbrian thought back to his early days in the job, to the reaction the long frustrated players gave to his summons.
“I started speaking and going to meet players who hadn’t had many opportunities recently,” he said. “I listened to them, I watched them. They were so desperate to be in the England shirt. You could hear it down the phone, you could see it in their body when I met with them face to face. For me that is incredibly rewarding. You know how passionate I am about the England rugby team. To see players so wanting to be in the England shirt is fantastic.”
Marchant’s selection is helped, in no small measure, by the fact Harlequins club mates Marcus Smith and Alex Dombrandt are at fly-half and No.8 respectively. Attack coach Nick Evans, on secondment from Quins, knows exactly what he has at his disposal. Ben Curry, who like uncapped wing Ollie Hassell-Collins will make his Six Nations debut, had to watch his identical twin brother Tom called up after him and amass 45 caps. Malins and Earls return after being axed despite one being top try scorer and the other player of the year in last season’s Premiership.
Lawrence is recalled after bursting onto the scene, quickly dropped then treated with some disdain by Borthwick’s predecessor. Maro Itoje has seen for himself the energy these players have brought to a squad on its knees at the end of a dreadful 2022. He has nothing but admiration for guys who time and again have found the door to selection locked to them but refused to give up. “When you feel as if you’re good enough and not getting picked, it’s naturally very tough,” he said. “It requires a significant amount of mental fortitude to keep coming back.
“Huge kudos to those individuals as it’s genuinely not easy going through the emotional rollercoaster of selection, sometimes they’re in, sometimes they’re not, sometimes they’re out for extensive periods of time. But they haven’t given up, announced their retirement from international rugby, gone away. They’ve stuck at it, quietly worked on their craft and are now back in the environment.”
England: Steward; Malins, Marchant, Farrell (capt), Hassell-Collins; Smith, Van Poortvliet; Genge, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Chessum, Ludlam, B Curry, Dombrandt.
Replacements: Walker, M Vunipola, Cole, Isiekwe, Earl, Youngs, Lawrence, Watson.
Scotland: Hogg; Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe; Russell, White; Schoeman, Turner, Nel; R Gray, Gilchrist; Ritchie (capt), Crosbie, M Fagerson.
Replacements: Brown, Bhatti, Berghan, J Gray, Dempsey, Horne, Kinghorn, Harris.
