England team: Five takeaways as Steve Borthwick opts for ‘continuity’ while ‘two sides’ of Henry Pollock debate emerge
England head coach Steve Borthwick (left) has named his squad to face Argentina on Saturday
Following confirmation of England’s 23-man squad to take on Argentina in Santiago del Estero, here are our five key takeaways from Steve Borthwick’s selection.
Continuity
It could have been pretty easy for Borthwick to run a handful of changes this weekend, especially given the increased travel between England and South America, but this selection feels very deliberate. It feels like the head coach is looking to build continuity within his 23. It feels like he is building on the Fiji victory.
You can certainly see the thinking behind it as well. A team that has just scored 11 tries, won by a margin of 65 points and snapped a five Test losing run probably does deserve to be kept together in its entirety. But then again, was it England at their dazzling, rip-roaring best? Who knows.
England did a lot of good stuff at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, it must be stressed. It was a notable step up across the board compared to the Springboks Test and certainly the Six Nations defeats (France aside). Fin Smith and Jack van Poortvliet led the attack extremely well, getting them playing in the right areas and throwing all sorts of shape at Fiji that they simply couldn’t handle. Off the back of that, the attack was accurate, intentful and potentially a lot braver than in previous weeks. That’s a good sign of where they are going.
But in saying that, Argentina will almost certainly be one or maybe even two steps above where the disappointing Fijians were last weekend, who have been really below-par across the Nations Championship, and will give England a much better understanding of where they are right now. This feels very much like England’s proper acid test, and that’s probably why Borthwick wanted to keep 21 of the 23 together.
He wants to see exactly where his side are at.
The Henry Pollock debate
As with anything in life, there are two sides to things. The same is very much true for the Henry Pollock starting debate.
But, this felt like the summer to really throw Pollock into the mix and give him a run of starts, it really did.
He is just oozing confidence right now, and as he’s proved right across the season, a confident Pollock is a dangerous thing to have on the pitch. Against Fiji, he bagged a hat-trick alongside a healthy stats sheet of 75 metres (second-highest across the Test) from just four carries, five defenders beaten, two linebreaks and a turnover. That was in just 32 minutes as well.
Look, the Fiji Test might not be the measuring stick we think it is, given Argentina’s back-row is arguably the best in the world, but he’s been pretty impressive in the majority of his Test outings for England and came into the Nations Championship off the back off a Man of the Match display in the PREM Rugby final.
The make-up of the back-row also feels a bit more balanced now, and that suits Pollock to a T. For Northampton, if deployed on the flank, Pollock is often surrounded by a big enforcer at six in someone like Josh Kemeny and then a carrier at eight in Callum Chick. It’s similar when he shifts to eight, too, with Chick able to cover six or Tom Pearson comes in at openside to give that extra bit of steel. England have exactly that sort of set-up now, with Ollie Chessum sliding over to flank and Ben Earl in the mix as well. It just feels a bit more balanced.
Then again, you can also see why Borthwick is keeping him back.
Pollock is doing really well in that sort of impact role off the bench and bringing him on in the latter stages when the game starts becoming a bit looser just frees him up to cause chaos. That tactic worked wonders during the Autumn Nations Series in November and he did a lot of good things in the Six Nations too when coming off the bench. His display against Fiji was potentially peak ‘Bomb Squad’ Pollock, too.
But, you just feel this was a wasted chance to throw him into it and see how he got on. He will, at some point, have to start these sorts of Tests if he’s going to be the main man in the England team. This could have been the start of that.
Experiment over?
When you read between the lines of the unchanged backline and the need to build continuity, one thing stands out. Tommy Freeman will again start on the wing. Not at centre, where he has played five of the past seven Tests, but on the wing.
Is it a sign that the experiment is over?
Freeman as a 13 does make sense, and he will likely finish the Test in midfield given Noah Caluori is on the bench, but starting him on the wing is potentially the right call for now. Of his 29 appearances across the season for both club and country, only eight have come in the centres, and prior to the Springboks Test, the last of those came against France in the Six Nations finale. That’s a long time to not play centre and then be expected to start there in a Test match.
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His work in the air could also be another reason to keep him out wide, especially following on from Fiji, but it does seem like Freeman will remain on the wing for at least the next few Tests.
5:3 here to stay
England were previously devoted to the 6:2 split, but now it seems they are moving back towards 5:3 after opting for it for the second Test in a row. This could easily have been a time to go back to the forward-heavy set-up, with Alex Mitchell injured and Marcus Smith showing he can cover scrum-half if needed, but Borthwick has shown he might be starting to change tack with his bench and wants the extended options in his backline.
This is such a far cry from where England have been over the past year. On last year’s tour of the Americas, Borthwick hinted at potentially deploying a 7:1 split on his bench, while it has also emerged that forwards like Pollock were getting proper training reps in the backline in case they were needed to shift across.
Now, they are going back to the more traditional split, and it could be here to stay if they win again.
Kept back
There are certainly some players who can count themselves unlucky to miss out on this side. From the original touring party, Max Ojomoh, Greg Fisilau, Vilikesa Sela, Arthur Clark, Theo Dan, Ted Hill and George Ford have not played a single minute during the Nations Championship, while recent call-ups Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Roebuck and Raffi Quirke have also not added to their cap tallies this July.
This is probably more just these players falling victim to Borthwick looking for a level of continuity amid the mounting pressure on his position and an attempt to get England back in the winners’ column, but they will all be left frustrated when they return home next week.
