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Three winners, three losers from the England Six Nations squad reveal
By Liam Heagney
Fifty-six days after he announced his previous England squad of 36 to prepare for the Autumn Nations Series-ending fixture with Japan, head coach Steve Borthwick was back at Twickenham on Tuesday morning to confirm the group he will take next week to Spain to prepare for the Guinness Six Nations opener versus Ireland.
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There were eight changes – four forwards, four backs – from the 36 selected on November 19 for a match that England won to draw a line under their five-game losing streak. In the pack, Ollie Chessum, Joe Heyes, Bevan Rodd and Tom Willis were chosen instead of Dan Cole, Trevor Davison, and injured pair Nick Isiekwe and Sam Underhill.
Meanwhile, out back, another unavailable duo, George Furbank and Luke Northmore, along with Alex Lozowski and Ben Spencer missed out with Elliot Daly, rookies Oscar Beard and Cadan Murley, and Alex Mitchell stepping up ahead of the February 1 fixture in Dublin. Here are the RugbyPass winners and losers from Borthwick’s latest squad announcement:
WINNERS
MARO ITOJE: There have long been question marks over the lock’s potential to become England captain. Eddie Jones’ criticism was particularly damning some years ago, but Itoje has quietly learned the ropes, initially as one of the national team’s multiple vice-captains and lately as club skipper at Saracens.
The Londoners aren’t as consistent as they would like form-wise, but Itoje, who recently changed agents from Roc Nation Sports to Ten Toes, has been an encouraging captain, honing his communication with referees and making some sound decisions when needed.
Look at how Saracens went for the posts last Saturday in the 70th minute in Limerick to cut the gap to 12-17 and bag a losing Investec Champions Cup bonus point at Munster instead of gambling by going to the corner and potentially missing out.
Itoje’s promotion with England will now reignite intrigue over who might be the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour captain. Ireland’s Caelan Doris seemed poised to get that role without much competition but Itoje’s elevation will add spice to the upcoming round one Anglo-Irish clash in Dublin.
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TOM WILLIS: There were plenty of players hyped across the winter as potential fresh England picks in 2025, but the credentials of Willis sparkled the most and he will head to Girona next week confident that he can finally add a second cap to the debut he fleetingly made in August 2023.
That audition was harsh, getting thrown on in Cardiff with England stumbling through a poor effort against Wales two days before the Rugby World Cup squad was named. Willis didn’t make that cut but he wasn’t completely forgotten by Borthwick in the meantime as he was part of the training group as recently as the early October training camp.
He was cut loose when the official Autumn Nations Series squad was confirmed some weeks later but he went back to Saracens to play with a career-best fire in him that had Lawrence Dallaglio describing him as the best forward in the country.
Now that his talent has got him back in the room, his challenge will be to convince Borthwick that an England with him starting at No8 rather than club colleague Ben Earl, who has been Saracens’ winter openside, would be a good way to go with selection.
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JOE HEYES: The 25-year-old has, for ages, been a coming man with England. It was July 2021 when he made his Test debut but making his face stick has been an issue over the years.
One start and two runs off the bench in England’s 2022 Test series win away to Australia under Jones seemed set to keep him in the mix long-term, but he has yet to win a cap under Borthwick, who was his title-winning boss at Leicester.
Veteran Dan Cole became Borthwick’s go-to for a Test prop pick from Tigers, but the penny seems to have finally dropped with Heyes. Having been an unused tourist in Japan and New Zealand last summer, he has finally cracked the No3 shirt at Leicester under Michael Cheika and been a starter in all 12 appearances this season.
That improved consistency has now seen him get the selection jump at national team level on clubmate Cole and Heyes will now be looking for caps in an England battle with Will Stuart and Asher Opoku-Fordjour.
LOSERS
JAMIE GEORGE: Time unfortunately waits for no man, as the distinguished hooker has found out to his cost with England. When anointed skipper this time last year, taking over from the unavailable Owen Farrell, he certainly looked to be the correct pick.
The front-rower had enjoyed a riotous Rugby World Cup, playing impressively and even putting in a string of full-duration 80-minute performances with Borthwick not trusting enough in rookie Theo Dan when it came to the big games in France.
George was a proud captain for sure and he showed tremendous commitment to the shirt with the way he battled through the spring despite the tragic passing of his Jane, leading England to a March flourish against Ireland and France.
However, his legs no longer match his heart and his sequence of substitutions around the 50-minute mark during the recent difficult Autumn Nations Series made his position as captain untenable as England needed a skipper to be still in the thick of it coming down the finishing straight, not long gone from the action.
The upside to George’s captaincy demotion is that he can now focus all his energies into not giving the jersey easily away to Luke Cowan-Dickie and Dan.
ALEX LOZOWSKI: Another Saracens 30-something, he trained all four match weeks in November with England without getting a sniff of winning what would have been his first cap since 2018. He had gone into the autumn on the back of some sublime club form, which included an all-court effort in a dramatic Gallagher Premiership win at Bristol.
However, he was unable to do enough to convince Borthwick to run with a midfield other than Henry Slade in tandem with Ollie Lawrence, and all his re-learning of the international scene at training six years after his last appearance has now been cast aside by his exclusion from this Six Nations squad.
Prop Trevor Davison is another with feelings similar to Lozowski, training the whole way through the November series without getting a match day look-in and now learning eight weeks later that you’re no longer wanted. Such is the brutal cruelty that is the Test-level fringe.
BEN SPENCER: The 32-year-old’s inclusion to start a Test for the first time – the November opener against the All Blacks – was one of the heart-gladdening stories of the autumn. It illustrated how no player should ever give up on a dream and with Alex Mitchell injured at the time, Spencer’s club form meant he was deserving of the No9 England jersey.
Thing is, Spencer then became the fall guy for the game two loss to Australia, England surrendering their early dominance to fritter the lead away, and his second half hooking resulted in a rethink for the remaining two games of the series with Jack van Poortvliet named to start and Harry Randall providing cover.
With Mitchell fit for the Six Nations, someone was always going to lose out and this omission might now spell the end of Spencer’s international career. That would be a pity but having waited an eternity for a first Test start, he knows it’s a game of patience and, regardless of the odds, he will do what he can to ensure he is next man up should a vacancy arise.
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Am hopeful Willis’ inclusion will see Earl get back to his best. Mitchell’s return is huge for England and could be instrumental in giving England the edge they’ve been missing. The bench for me though represents the single biggest improvement. As noted by Eggy-chaser supremo Tim, the squad offers some really interesting 6-2 split options. CCS and LCD coming off the bench would certainly bring more energy than we saw over the AI’s. Throw Ted Hill into the mix and you’ve got another powerful, in-form carrier that England have been missing.
I remain buoyantly optimistic and hopeful.
Earl has never played well at 7 for England - if Willis and Earl both start, it would suggest Earl's game has progressed significantly since 2023
One can only assume SB is thinking long term because in no way is JVP playing better than Ben Spencer.
Maybe Ben should get transferred to Leicester.
However. If long term is the thing quite why is Ford clogging up the squad . Injuries and all.
Confusing .
hey dumb dumb