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Four talking points about England team that will play the All Blacks
By Liam Heagney
England rugby boss Steve Borthwick has taken a leaf from the Warren Gatland Test selection book, bringing forward his team selection from Thursday and laying it all out to the touring New Zealand four days before next Saturday’s Allianz Stadium, Twickenham clash.
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Borthwick wasn’t scheduled to declare his hand until Thursday lunchtime, but he decided to go early and name a team showing four changes from the XV beaten by the All Blacks 16 weeks ago in Auckland. George Furbank and Ben Spencer have been chosen in place of Freddie Steward and the unavailable Alex Mitchell at full-back and scrum-half respectively.
Up front, there are also two alterations with loosehead Ellis Genge and openside Tom Curry included at the expense of replacement Fin Baxter and the excluded Sam Underhill. They will be supported by a bench containing six forwards, rather than the usual five, and just two backs in half-back duo of Harry Randall and George Ford. Here are four RugbyPass England team talking points:
Mr Indispensable
Just as smooth as the SpaceX catching a rocket on landing, Henry Slade has perfectly timed his selection run following a shoulder operation that initially left him in serious doubt for this four-match Autumn Nations Series which opens at home to New Zealand.
A year ago, Slade was a brutal casualty when Borthwick named his squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. However, the 31-year has been the epitome of the perfect professional in rebounding from that crushing setback, returning to start all five Guinness Six Nations matches and then all three summer tour games.
Having opted for an off-season operation, it was August 2 when Rob Baxter, Slade’s director of rugby at Exeter, outlined an uncertain recovery timeframe. “It’s a relatively complex operation which, at this stage, makes it a little difficult to talk about his return to play time. It is likely to be in the three-to-four-month range so unfortunately, he is going to miss a good chunk of the start of the season with us,” he explained.
That suggested it was touch and go for Slade to feature with England in November but so fast twitch has been his rehab, he will now line up alongside Ollie Lawrence for the seventh time this year having partnered him on three occasions in the Six Nations and in all three summer tour matches, including the two losses versus New Zealand.
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The perfectly-timed comeback is a victory for Slade’s reputation as an “incredibly good rehabber” as he will wear the England No13 shirt having featured just once for Exeter this season, playing 54 minutes of last Sunday’s Gallagher Premiership home loss to Harlequins.
From dispensable to so very important… it’s been quite the 12 months for the midfielder who was last Friday named as one of 17 players awarded enhanced elite player squad member contracts.
Breaking through at the age of 32!
A consequence of the return of Slade to the England mix was that Alex Lozowski will have to wait a little while longer to end his six-year spell without a Test cap. Last chosen in November 2018, his inclusion in recent Borthwick training squads came after some excellent form for Saracens. But the giddy story of him potentially stepping in from the wilderness to grapple the All Blacks has now proven a step too far.
Borthwick’s team announcement, though, wasn’t bereft of an inspiring reward-for-patience story as scrum-half Ben Spencer has been pencilled in for his first-ever Test-level start… at the age of 32.
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It’s been quite the fight for recognition by the Bath skipper, who had one cap to his name when called up from outside the squad to bench behind Ben Youngs in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final in place of the injured Willi Heinz.
That sudden elevation wasn’t followed by continuous involvement as Eddie Jones ignored him for the rest of his tenure and it took an injury to Mitchell for Borthwick to finally give Spencer his follow-up appearance when chosen away to Scotland last February.
Edinburgh was a savage place for a recall after four-plus years, as England were beaten out the gate that day, but Borthwick isn’t Jones and having picked Spencer as the back-up scrum-half to Mitchell in the two July tour losses to New Zealand, he has now trusted him with the No9 shirt in the injured Mitchell’s absence. It’s quite a brilliant story and a lesson for all players frustrated by selection to never lose belief.
Bringing the heat ?
Head coach Steve Borthwick has named his match day squad to face New Zealand at @allianz_stad this weekend in our opening Test of the @autumnnations series ?@O2 | #WearTheRose pic.twitter.com/RT7TABrpwj
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) October 29, 2024
‘Twins’ no more
There was once a time when Tom Curry and Underhill were joined at the hip in the England selection, bashing their way through World Cup 2019 as the so-called ‘Kamikaze twins’. They laid ruin to the All Blacks on semi-final night that year, but both players have had their rotten luck with injuries in the years since then.
Just once have they been reunited as starters on Borthwick’s watch, last October’s bronze medal final win over Argentina in Paris. That was the tournament in which Curry had red card, injury and Bongi Mbonambi issues to deal with while Underhill was only a mid-competition call-up for the injured Jack Willis.
Underhill reminded us that night of his Test-level prowess, producing a stirring man-of-the-match performance at openside, and he went on to start at No7 in all eight matches played by England in 2024 but he now gives up that role to Curry for Saturday’s latest renewal with the All Blacks.
The Bath back-rower was available for selection, but Curry, a sub through the summer tour following his career-saving hip surgery last winter, has now got back the jersey. Whereas Underhill was overlooked when Borthwick last Friday confirmed his 17 enhanced elite player squad contracts, Curry was on that list and his inclusion for next Saturday now reflects that EPS pecking order.
Not that having an enhanced deal guarantees selection. It doesn’t. Of the 17 enhanced EPS picks, just 12 are starters versus the All Blacks. Theo Dan and Ford have been listed for bench duty, while Ollie Chessum, Mitchell and Fin Smith are absent. Chessum and Mitchell are injured but Smith is surplus to requirement despite his enhanced EPS deal.
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Borthwick’s bomb squad
We have heard for years about the Springboks’ bomb squad, about how their liking for having six forwards (and, on occasion, seven) on the replacements bench is a tactic capable of swinging the result of numerous big matches.
Now, meet the Borthwick bomb squad. The England head coach had been a firm disciple of the five/three bench split but, coming off the back of a 0-2 series loss in New Zealand, he has decided to go into this weekend’s rematch with an extra forward in reserve.
The decision will leave sub half-backs Randall and Ford with plenty positions to cover if injuries hit the starting backline, but going with six forwards has laid the gauntlet down to New Zealand that England are not in the mood to settle for an honourable defeat on this occasion.
There is nothing new in having three front row swaps in loosehead Baxter, hooker Dan and tighthead Dan Cole, but the naming of Nick Isiekwe, Ben Curry and Alex Dombrandt as second/back row cover is ambitious, a clear signal of the additional physicality Borthwick wants to bring to proceedings at Allianz Stadium.
The head coach will hope his sacrificing of a reserve back to have an extra option in the forwards will pay off richly, but it’s a gamble. England have been widely complimented for their improved attack this year, but the six/two split is a kitchen sink-type tactic without scope for failure in just England’s third home match in 16 outings. Sold out Twickenham expects… and the expectation is on this bomb squad to deliver.
Fin Smith is surplus to requirements despite having an enhanced EPS contract.
Well someone had to be as 3 fly halves have those contracts . If F Smith was on the bench they would be writing the same thing about Ford.
Very very excited about this game. I think England are going to bring massive intensity to it and control how it opens up later by using a more dynamic 'Bomb Squad'.
Smith will have been practising those shots at sticks a lot. I am expecting a great match and an English victory. They will need one of their set/strike plays to produce 7, but if they manage that they are on their way.
The forwards replacements (Cole apart) have clearly been chosen in anticipation of a more open game in the last 20 minutes or so - collectively they trade a bit of power for pace and potentially offer some different running lines. There's clearly a plan to do something a bit different rather than just sub like for like, though we will have to wait for Saturday to see what it is and whether it works.
England's issues on the summer tour were with closing out the games, so they clerly do need to do something different in the last 20.
What good is an extra forward if you still lack the depth in the front row? The ABs dominated England in the scrum, and I see nothing that suggests it'll be any different this time round.
Isiekwe, Dombrandt and Burry have all looked poor at international level, I'm not convinced cutting an outside back to get all 3 of them in has much merit. If we had 3 excellent forwards in the mix for bench spots it might be different. If one of our wingers gets injured we're gonna end up with an odd reshuffle... Is Furbank going to play on the wing with Smith at fullback?
Hope to god that Ford in the 23 is a prelude to him being in the 10 shirt next week.
He's our best 10 by a mile, but not a great bench option. If we need someone to close out the last few minutes of a test match at 10, Furbank and Slade would both be more than adequate. If Feyi-Waboso, Freeman, or Lawrence go off injured will the plan be to have Ford, Smith, Slade, and Furbank all playing together, with Furbank on the wing? That's a backline that'll seriously be lacking in heft.
I don't really disagree about Ford but we've had a lot of years of Ford and Farrell and it's not taken us to the top so I'm happy they're trying someone new and Marcus is very talented. I hope if they persevere with him he will blossom. It took Finn Russell a long time to go from a raw talent tona great.
Presume they're planning on Furbank as wing cover which I agree is a bad idea. The 3 back 5 forwards they've picked are all underwhelming as internationals, did they think between the 3 they'd add up to 2 decent players?
Looks decent but where the hell is Underhill? Very weird. If he's fit he should be in the 7 shirt. We've got a tall, athletic 6, what's the issue? How is Ben Curry preferred? Surreal.
Randall not trusted to start is understandable although I'd have liked to see it. He's been phenomenal this season and his kicking is much improved.
+1 for Randall. Sure he'll get 20-mins though.
England should have won both Tests in the summer and blew it. First up, ABs are battle hardened after RC and Japan warm-up. Not a great Kiwi side but can only see an away win. England's best bet is to challenge the haka and get stuck-in in the first 10. Any weakness and it's curtains.
The 6-2 split does seem risky - and you could argue that's one of the reasons England triumphed over Ireland in the 6Ns after they were forced into a desperate reshuffle following Nash going off.
That said, be interesting to see Earl slot in at 12 should Slade not be able to finish the game.
I'm totally not convinced about Earl at 12 but would be fun to see how he goes.