England will target the Wallabies in the air and on the ground after Steve Borthwick named general George Ford at fly-half, the towering figure of Freddie Steward at fullback and a quintet of hard on-ballers, including two Lions stars on the bench for Sunday’s (2:10am AEDT) opening November Test at Twickenham.
In a fascinating move, Borthwick, who was schooled by innovating coach Eddie Jones after moving into the coaching ranks, named six forwards on his eight-man bench but said he was planning on testing his back-rowers in the backline soon.
How soon remains to be seen but given that playmaker Fin Smith was preferred over the versatile Marcus Smith as bench cover behind Ford, it could come as soon as this weekend.
Elsewhere, Fraser Dingwall was selected alongside his Northampton teammate Tommy Freeman, who starts in the midfield in a decision that allows Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tom Roebuck to start on the wings.
The tight-five is predictably strong and is headed by captain Maro Itoje, while Guy Pepper, who was one of the breakout stars on the tour of Argentina in July, forms a well-balanced back-row alongside hard on-baller Sam Underhill and Ben Earl.
George Ford will stay in the No.10 jersey for England’s first November Test. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
While Borthwick would have been tempted to start Smith alongside his Northampton halve teammate Alex Mitchell, the England coach has rewarded Ford for his stellar form and campaign against the Pumas in July. As a consequence, there’s no room for Marcus Smith, who was one of the form playmakers this time last year.
“Right now with our three fly-halves we could be saying that either of the three is a great player,” Borthwick told BBC Sport.
“George in the summer was excellent and his performances and leadership were excellent, we are aiming to continue that this weekend.”
Six of the successful Lions tourists from the recent campaign down under will start, while Borthwick has loaded his bench with another six — Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Will Stuart, Curry, Pollock and Smith — who teamed the Wallabies, hoping they will close out the game for England.
After watching Jones play Jack Nowell on the flank, Borthwick, who was probed about the decision to stack his side with loose-forwards, said he was heading down a similar role of seeing which players could play across multiple positions, especially with only 33 likely to board the plane for the 2027 World Cup.
“You know we’ve been investing for a long period with Ben Earl in the centres,” Borthwick said, having first moved the Saracen there during the 52-17 win against Japan in Tokyo in June 2024.
“I think there will be a time where I’ll consider starting Ben Earl at centre, especially with all the quality back-row forwards we’ve got. Guy Pepper has been training in the back line and we’ve been looking at Henry Pollock on the wing. His pace is a match for a lot of wingers. That kind of versatility is really important to us.
“I’m not saying we’re training all those combinations for this Saturday, but these are the options we have, which allows us to go 6-2. We don’t know exactly what the game is going to bring, but we know we’re training readiness to adapt to things.
“I would have no hesitation in Ben Earl or Fin Smith being in the centres. Clearly Ben has an incredible skillset. Is it something you’d want him to experience at club level? Ideally. But that’s Saracens’ business, not mine. He’s spent so much time training with the backs, and you can see his skillset and his pace. It’s one to consider.
“Right now Henry is a young man and a back-row forward. The situation with Ben is slightly different. Ben is such an experienced player.
“HP [Pollock] is a back-row forward, but it’s one of the combinations I’m looking at for the future. You look at our talent and versatility, and being adaptable. I know some will criticise me for different things and the depth I go into, regarding my preparation, but it’s been thorough. If I was an England supporter I would want the head coach to be thorough. I’m thorough.”
England’s Ben Earl has been named at No.8 to take on England, with Sam Underhill back at No.7. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
While Freeman finished the Six Nations at outside centre, the Lions flyer played on the wing over the weekend and scored four tries to put away Saracens at home.
But Borthwick said the versatile back had spent a lot of time training in the midfield for England and had edged Ollie Lawrence in a “narrow call”.
“Tommy has consistently played really well for England. He went very well at centre at the end of the Six Nations,” Borthwick said.
“He’s gone on record as wanting to play at 13 for his club — he hasn’t had too many opportunities to do that. But certainly here, we’ve been training him at 13 for a long period of time now. He’s been covering 13 and he’s moved to 13 within games. What that does is it also enables us to bring two outstanding wingers into the squad, into the team.”
Borthwick added that Freeman’s versatility would once again prove advantageous come the World Cup.
“I see Tommy’s ability to play 13, wing and potentially 15 being a huge asset for us,” the head coach said.
“When you look at the World Cup, having players who can play in different positions, particularly outside backs, that is very important. When you look at squad size, you have to load slightly more with your extra front row, which means someone in the outside backs has to cover more positions.”
On the Wallabies, Borthwick said his side would be tested because Schmidt had had the side for four months as opposed to just four sessions.
But he added that England were vary of whether Schmidt’s game-plan would be one around kicking or phase play.
“What they have done is played 11 Tests in four and a bit months together, building consistent combinations of how they are playing,” Borthwick said.
“They have gone about everything very well, they keep the ball tremendously well, their ability to have… their breakdown work, you’d expect that of a Joe Schmidt coached team, they have increased the number of kicks they have, which is the interesting one and it will be interesting to see whether they bring that kicking blend, and whether they change it this week on Saturday and bring more kicking game. Or whether they trust what is part of their DNA, which is their phase game.
Steve Borthwick says his English side have had just four training sessions before taking on a Wallabies outfit who will benefit from being together for four months. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
“The team has got fit, they’ve got a fit group of players who are athletic and have ability. So I think it’s going to be a real challenge for us.
“When you’ve been together for four and a bit months – and we don’t even get that prep at a World Cup- that’s the nature they have.
“They have had four months together, we’ve got four sessions. But what we’ve done is gone, right, we’ve got four sessions, we’re going to make ’em great sessions. We’re going to keep our plan as simple as possible. We’re going to effectively do more of less.”
Borthwick added that he expected the Wallabies to once again use Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii in the air, with the code-hopper killing England from kicks on his spectacular debut.
“Suaalii’s kick-off work last year was very good,” Borthwick said. “It has been a focus for us.
“Someone who can jump as high as that and has that athleticism if the kick is on the money, stopping him winning the ball is a challenging thing to do. They have taken away all that protection for the catchers now. Winning the loose balls is a factor. It has certainly been a part of our preparation. Noah [Caluori] has been challenging the team in the air.
“Australia have a contestable kicking game, to kick to Suaalii. They have lots of contestable kicks. Lots of box kicks. We will be expecting that this weekend.”
England vs Wallabies at Twickenham, London. Kick-off: 2:10am, Sunday (AEDT)
England (1-15): Fin Baxter, Jamie George, Joe Heyes, Maro Itoje (c), Ollie Chessum, Guy Pepper, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl, Alex Mitchell, George Ford, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Fraser Dingwall, Tommy Freeman, Tom Roebuck, Freddie Steward
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, Alex Coles, Tom Curry, Henry Pollock, Ben Spencer, Fin Smith
Wallabies: TBC
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