England squad: Five takeaways as Steve Borthwick’s job ‘made harder’ by new ‘conundrum’
England head coach Steve Borthwick and Saracens number eight Tom Willis, who has been omitted from the squad.
Following the announcement of the England training squad ahead of the Autumn Nations Series, here are our five takeaways from Steve Borthwick’s selections.
Wingers, wingers and more wingers
Along with fly-half and the openside position, it is probably England’s greatest area of strength. No fewer than seven wings have been picked in the group when you include teenage sensation Noah Caluori, who has been added as part of a development agreement with his club Saracens.
Henry Arundell, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tommy Freeman, Cadan Murley, Adam Radwan and Tom Roebuck are the other six to be selected and you can’t really disagree with any of those calls. The likes of Roebuck, Murley and Freeman have credit in the bank following their Test performances in 2025, while Feyi-Waboso was first choice in 2024 and has enjoyed a stunning start to this season.
Radwan has been utterly immense since signing for Leicester Tigers midway through the 2024/25 campaign and thoroughly deserves his call-up with Arundell, who has been earmarked for greatness since breaking onto the scene as a teenager, settling back into English rugby rather nicely after signing for Bath.
Rather incredibly, this list could have also included Ollie Sleightholme and Elliot Daly. The Northampton Saints wing impressed during the 2024 Autumn Nations Series and started three matches in the 2025 Six Nations, while Daly was in the 11 shirt for the Wales demolition, but both are nursing injuries, with the latter in camp to continue his rehabilitation. It rather shows England’s outstanding depth out wide.
The backline make-up
While the sheer number of wings is a standout, it points to certain individuals either shifting positions or Borthwick using their versatility to get as many of them in the 23 as possible. Radwan, Roebuck, Feyi-Waboso and Murley are out-and-out wide players, which suggests that Freeman will be playing more at centre for England this year, or perhaps even full-back.
At the moment, the Saints star, who went on the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia and started all three Tests, is a guaranteed pick but it is just a matter of where. Equally, Arundell is comfortable across the back three and, despite being a contender for the 11 shirt, could conceivably line up at 15. Freddie Steward, given that he is the only out-and-out full-back in the squad, is favourite to take that role in the opener against the Wallabies, but Marcus Smith, Freeman and Arundell are also options there.
If Freeman moves into the midfield and starts alongside another battering ram in Ollie Lawrence then the England boss may decide to go with Smith over Steward given his playmaking qualities. If it is Henry Slade alongside either Lawrence or Freeman then the 2025 Lion could be competing with Steward for the full-back role.
Usually, picking so many players from the same position can limit your options but, for the Red Rose, they have arguably increased the number of combinations they could use. Borthwick will want a certain amount of continuity after an impressive end to the Six Nations, as well as a promising couple of games in Argentina, but he can certainly tinker with the backline.
The number eight situation
While England have opensides in abundance, they are not quite as blessed at the base of the scrum and Tom Willis’ rather surprising decision to end his World Cup chances has certainly made Borthwick’s job harder. Ben Earl has done that role superbly over the past couple of years but, on current form, Willis was a shoo-in for that number eight slot.
The 26-year-old impressed in the Six Nations before playing a starring role in Argentina – while Earl was with the Lions – and looked set to feature heavily in November. Willis is an exceptional athlete with tremendous skills but most importantly he is a bigger body that excels at close quarters, something that is absolutely vital in Test rugby, leaving England with a conundrum to solve.
It feels inevitable that either Earl or Henry Pollock, who played at number eight for the Lions on tour, will line up against Australia, but the most like-for-like replacement is Chandler Cunningham-South. They are still not quite sure what his best role is going forward, with the 22-year-old playing at lock on a few occasions last season, but he has featured at the base in the past couple of Harlequins games and actually outplayed Willis when the two went head-to-head in the Prem.
Rising stars
There are few real surprises among this training squad but it is still a rather young group – it is remarkable to think that Steward and Freeman are only 24 for example with Feyi-Waboso still a pup at 22. However, the next exciting cabs off the rank have emerged in the form of Leicester’s Emeka Ilione and Saracens’ Caluori.
Ilione, at 23, is a later developer but his talent has been well known within English rugby circles for a while having been a star at age-grade level. In truth, it is a surprise that it took so long for the Tigers to trust him in the first team but, after breaking into the squad last season, he has not looked back and deserves his place.
Caluori, in contrast, has absolutely burst onto the scene with his five-try showing in his side’s demolition of Sale Sharks on Saturday. It wasn’t just his scoring instincts that impressed, nor his pace and balance that wings must have at the top level, but his incredible aerial skills that utterly destroyed the Sharks at the weekend.
So much of the modern game is about that ability in the air and the 19-year-old already looks to have the qualities to step up to the highest level, it just depends on when that happens. Watching him dominate a very good side in Sale, you feel that he could play against the Wallabies tomorrow, but Borthwick would be right to bide his time. However, perform like that for Sarries in November, December and January, particularly in the big Champions Cup games, and he may just get his chance in the Six Nations.
Unlucky omissions and injuries
You feel that most England fans would be happy with this group, but there will inevitably be some players that feel aggrieved, while some key names, such as the Curry twins and George Furbank, are currently nursing injuries, so there could be the odd change to the main Autumn Nations Series squad.
Even so, the majority of this 36 will compete for the 23 that will take on the Wallabies, Fiji, All Blacks and Argentina next month, which means that for the likes of Ben Bamber and Ollie Hassell-Collins, they will have to wait for their chance.
Hassell-Collins was part of Borthwick’s first England squad and featured in the 2023 Six Nations but he has not been seen since, despite some stunning form for Leicester Tigers in the Prem. However, being a winger, the 26-year-old has some stern competition in that slot given the aforementioned names and it is not a shock that he has missed out.
Bamber’s omission is more of a surprise given his form for Sale at the start of the season and the fact that England are not blessed with too many tighthead-style locks. A former rugby league player, he has been learning the nuts and bolts of the game over the past few years, but he has very much stepped up in the past 12 months.
At 6ft 9in and 20st, the 24-year-old has shone at the set-piece and in his close quarter work around the field. Borthwick is also thought to have kept a close eye on his progress so it surely won’t be long before Bamber gets international recognition, providing he maintains his form.
