5 problems England must solve before the Six Nations

Where next for England, after their battling performance with a limited game plan carried them to third place at the Rugby World Cup in October?

They were already facing life without Owen Farrell after he voluntarily stood down from Test rugby.

But now the national captain of the last five years is reportedly considering a move to Racing 92 next season, on the heels of a batch of other star players who have upped sticks to the French league, making themselves unavailable to the red rose.

England have also lost the international retirees Courtney Lawes, Ben Youngs and Jonny May.

So with the 2024 Six Nations just a month away, and Steve Borthwick now a year into his job as head coach, should the mood be one of excitement or anxiety?

Borthwick’s building blocks

When Borthwick spoke publicly on Thursday for the first time since the World Cup, he said several England players had spoken in their post-tournament reviews of setting a “foundation”, while his own main takeaway was seeing a fresh ability to adapt in matches and win from tight positions – albeit with the obvious exclusion of the 16-15 semi-final loss to South Africa.

There have since been changes among the coaching staff with Felix Jones, the Irishman who helped the Springboks win the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, taking charge of defence, and a New Zealander, Andrew Strawbridge, coming in for a month to slicken England’s attack with his expertise in the contact area.

Borthwick laid out the changes he expects to see in 2024 and beyond, saying the belligerent reliance on kicking at the World Cup was down to short-term expediency.

“If you have got to change quickly,” he said, “the foundation of the team is ensuring your defence is right, your kicking game is right, your set-piece is right, your breakdown is right – you do those things and you can compete.

“The next thing that comes, off the back of that breakdown and making sure you have got the speed of ball, is developing your attack. Then you can start adding nuances to your kicking game, nuances to your defence, to pose the opposition problems. We built a foundation in that sense and we know we need to develop it from there.”

Keeping the squad onside

The player drain to France presents a worrying risk of the England jersey losing its glamour, and there are also contractual matters to settle, with a group of senior players organising to represent financial interests in a new company, Team England Rugby Ltd.

The company’s directors are Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Maro Itoje, Joe Marler and Anthony Watson, and it would be no surprise to see one of them succeed Farrell as captain.

Still, Borthwick was enthusiastic about the “eagerness” he encountered when he travelled the country to meet the current and next generation of players at the start of December, and they will reconvene in regional get-togethers on the Monday and Tuesday of the next two weeks, ahead of a training camp in Spain and the opening Six Nations fixture against Italy in Rome on 3 February.

Ending player abuse

Borthwick also praised the “competitive” Premiership, “with the number of teams fighting to make the top four”, and how well English clubs did in the first two rounds of this season’s Champions Cup.

And he is adamant the Rugby Football Union (RFU) is doing everything necessary to tackle abuse of players.

“This is fast changing and I don’t think anybody expected quite what happened in that World Cup, so we are continually looking at what’s needed,” he added.

“We understand it’s not just the players, it’s the England management team, it’s the officials, it’s also their families. [It] will all be a bit different for every person.”

Finding space for form players

Among the players Borthwick name-checked as having impressed him in recent weeks were two men omitted from the World Cup in Exeter centre Henry Slade and Northampton’s Tommy Freeman, who was capped under the previous England head coach Eddie Jones, then injured, but has been shining with his power and versatility as both a centre and a wing.

Ben Earl unexpectedly nailed down the No 8 jersey at the World Cup, and after a recent spell on the sidelines, his return to action has pleased Borthwick, who also highlighted the form of Itoje and scrum-half Alex Mitchell. The Leicester tighthead prop Dan Cole remains available, too.

Problem areas and new faces

On the flipside, Borthwick’s visit to Paris to persuade Henry Arundell to return to the Premiership next season was in vain, as the back-three tyro chose to extend his contract at Racing 92 to 2026.

“Henry rang me a week or so later and I think he felt uncomfortable on the call,” Borthwick revealed.

“I said to him ‘Henry, I’m really disappointed, because I want you to come back to England and I’d love to see you in the England shirt. But now I want you to do super-well where you are, and come back to England the best player possible.’”

Borthwick also admitted “we don’t have the depth in certain positions, we can all see that”, with injuries at loosehead prop as one obvious hurdle that needs clearing.

But as one door closes, others could soon open for the likes of No 8 Greg Fisilau and wing Manny Feyi-Waboso, two Exeter players spoken to by Borthwick, though Feyi-Waboso could prefer to represent Wales, the country of his birth.

Another uncapped Exeter man, flanker Ethan Roots, could add ballast to an England back five that is expected to feature Leicester’s Ollie Chessum and George Martin in the Six Nations. The latter pair have a chance to impress as Tigers’ second row opposite Farrell and Saracens in the Premiership on Saturday.