England great names ‘way forward’ influence as Steve Borthwick’s most valuable player, insisting it’s a ‘positive’ Maro Itoje doesn’t even make top 10 list
Maro Itoje has been excluded from Mike Tindall's England MVP top 10, a list headed by Alex Mitchell, inset
Rugby World Cup winner Mike Tindall has named his most valuable player for England in this year’s Six Nations – and it’s not Maro Itoje, as the skipper doesn’t even make the retired midfielder’s top 10.
Having finished fourth in Steve Borthwick’s first year at the helm in 2023, the English have gone on to have third and second-place finishes and are now tipped by many people as the favourites to win the 2026 title.
Ahead of the February 7 Round One match at home to Wales, Tindall, who was part of the Clive Woodward squad that clinched World Cup glory in 2003 in Australia, has selected his top 10 MVPs in Borthwick’s squad.
Recent British and Irish Lions series-winning skipper Itoje was originally included at No.10. But Tindall, revealing his list on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, later tweaked his selection to squeeze the omitted Luke Cowan-Dickie in at No.4, a decision that resulted in Itoje dropping off the list.
“I don’t see that as the case now…”
Tindall insisted his low MVP valuation of Itoje wasn’t a Six Nations negative for England, the ex-midfielder explaining: “It’s a positive because I would have put him way further up there (in the past).
“People have always talked that they need Maro on form for England to play, and I don’t see that as the case now. I don’t think we rely on him as much as we used to, and that is a very positive thing.”
Nominating his England MVP, Tindall chose scrum-half Alex Mitchell. “He dictates everything that is good about the attack,” he reckoned. “Ben Spencer is a better defender on the edge but if you want to drive the attack game, then Mitchell is the way forward and I am all about that.
“We have got everything else covered, but he dictates everything about how we play this game and how England will move forward. If he is on song, which he has been for Northampton, then he will drive England to a Grand Slam.”
Tindall chose Ellis Genge as his second MVP, with Ben Earl third. “Ellis is the heartbeat of the team, physicality, emotional connection, emotional drivers, experience, he sets the tone for what this England team is about, and he holds them accountable.
“Ben Earl, for the last three years, has been the player that England can’t live without. His carry rate is unbelievable, and if England want to take on the Six Nations, they need to have players who can get ball over the attack line and Ben Earl generally leads the way on that and people follow.
“His ability, his energy, he has become arguably England’s most important player, even though I am not going to put him there now. He is officially in the top three. I love his honesty and his approach to the game.
“Having (Tom) Willis would be nice because you have got your genuine out and out eight, a good old-fashioned ball carrying eight. But Earl fits between that blend of six/eight/seven. He could have six, seven, eight on his back, or 12 or wing.
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“He is one of those guys who can operate in many guises, and that is the quality he has. He is smart. He knows his role within rugby and what he wants to get out of it, and that has been developed for a long time, a learning curve he has really benefited from.”
As for his reason for belatedly squeezing Cowan-Dickie into his top 10 at No.4, Tindall said: “I have a mistake not including Luke Cowan-Dickie, who should be in at four where Ollie Chessum is. Everyone slides down one.
“Steve Borthwick’s England is always based on your scrums, your lineouts, your building blocks. You have had Jamie George there, the incumbent forever. What’s the makeup going to be?
“Theo Dan is incredible, but we have got the likes of Gabriel Oghre at Bristol, whose lineouts have been impeccable this year – 96 per cent is the stat I have heard. How are England going to build on that? A lot falls on Luke Cowan-Dickie’s shoulders. Can he make it his own until the World Cup with Theo Dan biting his heels?”
Mike Tindall’s England MVP top 10
10 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 9 Tommy Freeman, 8 Joe Heyes, 7 Henry Pollock, 6 George Ford, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Ben Earl, 2 Ellis Genge, 1 Alex Mitchell
