Steve Borthwick has warned all English players time is running out to force themselves into the 2027 Rugby World Cup reckoning.
The head coach believes he knows the lion’s share of the men he will take to Australia next year and selection D-Day is approaching faster than fringe players might think.
England have 12 Tests between now and Australia 2027, kicking off against the Wallabies next Sunday, but Borthwick has shrunk the timeframe to deliver even further.
He will announce a training squad ahead of the first of three World Cup warm-up games but that will not be far away from the 33-man party he will take Down Under – then he will slim that down to a final party after one more match.
Borthwick said: “If you are in that training squad, you’ve got a very realistic chance of being in that 33 – there are nine Tests until then.
“The vast majority of it I am pretty clear, I would say mid-to-high 20s. I have been very explicit to the team about why I am consistent in selection.
“As ever, in every World Cup when you come to the final selection meeting it is always numbers 31, 32, 33 you spend all the time talking about at the end.
“You need good players, positional versatility is a real bonus in those players and the other aspect is having quality character.
“You want good men that are going to be selfless and help the team and are then able to step in and do the job.”
Positional flexibility
That positional flexibility could be good news for the likes of Joe Marchant, Elliot Daly and Marcus Smith.
Borthwick also admitted there have been chats among his coaches about using someone other than a hooker to throw in at the lineout.
In the past wingers and scrum-halves have been used but that has gone out of fashion in recent times.
He added: “Jack van Poortvliet and Alex Mitchell are extraordinarily talented throwers.
“We have talked as coaches a while ago about what can we do to potentially put a hooker in a different position?
“Would he not be better served being somewhere else given the way the maul is heading?
“If you have got a really powerful hooker could you not have someone else throwing so you have more of your forwards ready to go into the maul immediately?
“It has been a consideration for us. Maybe we will pull it out this autumn.”
Borthwick also identified the breakdown as an area where England need to adapt to the demands of international rugby.
“Part of my job is identify those bits of where I need to bridge from where the players are in Prem rugby to where they are in Test rugby,” he said.
“The level of competition [at the breakdown] is at a different level in Test rugby.”
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