State of the Nation: England’s ‘growing sense of progress’ helps Steve Borthwick’s men ‘edge towards top table’
England end the Autumn Nations Series campaign on a perfect 4-0 record, and climb up to third in the rankings as a result
Following the conclusion of the 2025 Autumn Nations Series, we update you on the state of the participating nations. Next up, it’s Steve Borthwick’s England.
England came into this November campaign in high spirits after a much-improved Six Nations and later successful summer tour to the Americas, but this was a chance for them to prove a point against some Southern Hemisphere heavyweights.
The Wallabies, Fiji, the All Blacks and Argentina all lay in wait for Borthwick’s side, but they grew into the campaign as it went on and ended with a perfect record of four wins from four.
These wins further highlight the growing sense of progress in the national side compared to this point last year, and they now seem to be edging back towards the top table of Test rugby once again.
At the end of the year, England find themselves third in the World Rankings, with a big gap between them and Six Nations rivals Ireland, France, Scotland, Italy and Wales heading into next year’s Championship. They are also closing the gap on the top two, with only 0.92 between them and the All Blacks in second.
Autumn Nations Series summary
Borthwick’s side began their November campaign with a tough Test against the Wallabies, who also headed north off the back of a solid year of progress themselves after beating both the Springboks and British and Irish Lions.
Keen to avoid a repeat of last year’s dramatic defeat, England took the lead after 20 minutes thanks to George Ford’s boot. Three quickly became 10, as Ben Earl raced home for his side’s opening score. With the first-half drawing to a close, England came close to their second, but a clever interception from Harry Potter saw Australia hit back to make it 10-7 at the break.
But, with England deploying their Bomb Squad – soon to be called Pom Squad – they blew Australia away in the second-half with tries from Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell and Luke Cowan-Dickie.
Fiji lay in wait in weekend two, with the Pacific Islanders looking for a repeat of their famous 2023 victory.
It was tit for tat in the opening exchanges, with Cowan-Dickie and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso crossing for England and Tevita Ikanivere and Caleb Muntz hitting back for Fiji, but the hosts held a slender 14-13 lead at the interval. That trend continued early into the second-half, with Ellis Genge and Ikanivere swapping scores, but the deployment of the Pom Squad again guided England home.
Jamie George, Henry Arundell and Maro Itoje were the heroes this time around, as England made it two from two.
The biggest challenge of the month was saved for weekend three, with the All Blacks in town.
Two early tries from Leicester Fainga’anuku and Codie Taylor threatened to end the game before it had even properly started, but the hosts clawed their way back into it thanks to an Ollie Lawrence try and two Ford drop-goals.
Again, though, England sprang into life in the second-half, as Sam Underhill and Fraser Dingwall extended England’s lead. The All Blacks hit back with a score from Will Jordan, but it proved mere consolation in the end as Tom Roebuck crossed to hand England a famous 33-19 victory, their 10th in a row.
Their fourth and final Test of the month saw England take on Argentina, fresh from a stunning comeback win over Scotland.
It all seemed plain sailing for the hosts in the first-half, as they took a 17-3 lead into the sheds thanks to a tries from Max Ojomoh and Feyi-Waboso and another Ford drop-goal, with only a Tomas Albornoz penalty denting the scoreboard for Los Pumas.
The game flipped on its head in the second-half, though, with Argentina buoyed by their own bench.
A Justo Piccardo try, alongside further kicks from Albornoz and Santi Carreras, saw Argentina make it 17-16 heading into the final quarter, before England struck with a Henry Slade try and a Ford penalty. It all seemed done and dusted, but Rodrigo Isgro’s late score restored new life into Felipe Contepomi’s side.
With the clock in the red, Los Pumas began marching towards the England try-line, eerily reminiscent of their win in Edinburgh a week previous, but a Charlie Ewels intervention at the lineout and eventual scoop up by Earl saw England hold onto a dramatic 27-23 win.
Standout players
Number eight seemed a troubled area ahead of the Autumn Nations Series, with Tom Willis headed to France, but Ben Earl emphatically silenced that talk pretty quickly. The Saracens ace quickly became a focal point of England’s pack this month, with his carrying making him their chief battering ram. That impact told in his stats, too, making the most carries, metres and tackles of any forward across the entire series.
His back-row colleague Guy Pepper also emerged out of the woodwork this series, going from the fringes of the wider squad to starting in all four Tests. The Bath back-rower burst onto the scene for Newcastle Falcons in 2023/24, almost to the same level of Henry Pollock last year, but has since had to be patient when it came to England. He certainly looked the business during the summer tour, but this campaign saw him quickly cement his status as a Test starter.
Alex Coles also grew into the series as it went along, improving with each Test. He has been dipped in and out of the match-day 23 in times gone by, but an injury to Ollie Chessum gifted him a continued role in the starting side this month, and he took it with both hands. This performance in particular will please Borthwick, with lock again being seen as an issue ahead of the series, with George Martin out and Ewels only returning in the final Test against Argentina.
Maro Itoje also led England by example yet again, bringing a great year to an end in that respect. The Saracens man just seems to have taken his game to new heights since being given the armband, and his leadership was a key cornerstone behind England’s success. He also seems to be getting more and more comfortable in the role, and is developing a really good game understanding as a result. Itoje’s decisions and interactions with the referee all help his side, be it to capitalise on momentum, keep the scoreboard ticking over or even to take the sting out of a Test. It’s an underrated skill, but it’s so important for captains.
There was a major debate raging over the England number 10 jersey this November, but it seems George Ford has positioned himself at the top of the depth chart for good now. The Sale Sharks man’s kicking game and ultimate control of the attack got his side playing some delicious rugby at times, but it has also set the blueprint for this new-look attack under Lee Blackett. This is also a far cry from this time last year, where he was thrown under a harsh spotlight following the November Tests.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso had a pretty tough time of it last autumn, too, but this year he has made himself one of the first names on the teamsheet. While a lot of the talk will be on the kicking game and the likes of Roebuck’s and Freddie Steward’s work in the air, Feyi-Waboso’s carrying was such a potent weapon for England across the series. He just found himself marauding over the gainline with virtually every carry, while popping up in fresh spaces as well. England also used him slightly differently, waiting for space to open up in front of him before sending him through a gap, and that worked a treat. This is exactly why fans were clamouring to see him back in a white jersey after a horrific injury spell last year.
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Centre, and particularly inside centre, was also seen as a problem for England in the past, but the performances of both Fraser Dingwall and Max Ojomoh show that is now an issue of the past. Dingwall just seemed to bring the best out of those around him, both with his own playmaking skills, and certainly ends the month with some credit. But, Ojomoh also offered something completely fresh for England, given he dropped a proper rockstar display against Argentina. This selection debate will only be a good thing for England moving forward, and also could be something Borthwick properly taps into, picking and choosing between them depending on the game. That is something that has worked so well for the Springboks, and now England have that sort of depth.
Stat leaders
Fly-half Ford’s return to the starting XV also saw him end the campaign as England’s top points scorer, notching 33 points in his three outings – averaging 11 per Test.
Cowan-Dickie and Feyi-Waboso ended the campaign as joint top try-scorers, with the pair both notching two tries this month. Interestingly, they were two of 15 players to score a try for England this autumn, too, with Earl, Pollock, Mitchell, Genge, George, Arundell, Itoje, Lawrence, Underhill, Dingwall, Roebuck, Ojomoh and Slade also grabbing one try apiece.
Around that, Ojomoh also found himself top of the assists charts across the series, grabbing two against Argentina. He was closely followed by eight players on one, with Pollock, Fin Baxter, Ford, Lawrence, Mitchell, Fin Smith, Underhill and Roebuck all notching an assist this month too.
As listed above, Earl led the way for carries (60), metres (185) and tackles (51) for forwards across the series, which is some doing considering the personnel who took to the field this month.
Success story
While the winning run is certainly a big thing to come out of the autumn for England, the development of the Pom Squad is arguably the success story of the month. Last year, England saw leads blown in the final exchanges far too often, against New Zealand and Australia in particular, but the Pom Squad have flipped that trend on its head.
This month, England were able to blow games open in those clutch moments and eventually run away victors. On average, Borthwick would deploy his bench on the 53rd minute this autumn, often rolling six on at a time, and in those final 27 minutes, England notched an aggregate score of 57-17 across the four Tests. To put that even more into perspective, nine of England’s 17 tries came in that time too.
It’s clearly having an effect on the players, too, with full-back Steward telling reporters: “You look at the quality of the bench and the quality of the players coming on. When you look to your left and see the likes of Curry, Pollock, Gengey when he is on the bench running on the pitch, it gives you that extra boost.
“You’ve got Lions there coming on to try and win the game and that’s been a massive part of our strategy.”
England now seem to have their game built around the Pom Squad, but that in turn is also allowing others to get a real taste for life at Test level. In previous years, Baxter, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, and Coles would have likely been deployed from the bench, but this campaign saw them start in big Tests. That is invaluable experience to players who are still in the infancy of their Test careers, and it’s something Borthwick was particularly pleased with.
“We’ve got players who have been in the Test arena more often,” he said. “I’ve said that we need to develop depth, experience and time together in camp. The England team doesn’t have a huge amount of time together; the southern hemisphere teams have been together for four months now, and we’ve been together for four weeks.
“What we do is maximise every minute together. It’s tracking well.”
Main regret
Tongue in cheek take incoming, by the way.
Is it bad that England possibly don’t have a main regret out of this Autumn Nations Series campaign?
I know, I know. I sound incredibly naive for saying that, as England were by no means perfect in their four matches, but they probably achieved everything they wanted this month.
Beat the All Blacks? Tick. Test out depth in key positions? Tick. Look at the new attacking and defensive philosophies? Tick. Continue the winning run? Tick. Climb the World Ranking? Tick. I could go on.
England come out of this November block in a much better position than they came into it, and will hopefully have some serious momentum heading into the Six Nations.
If you’re looking for a regret, though, it could be that they didn’t face the Springboks
Rassie Erasmus’ all-conquering Boks will prove a major test of exactly where this England side is, and they will likely want to come in and take England down a peg or two, but that’s talk for the summer and the impending Nations Championship meeting.
For now, Borthwick can put his feet up, flick on a Christmas film, grab a Baileys and look back fondly at the campaign just gone.
Results
England v Australia (England won 25-7)
England v Fiji (England won 38-18)
England v New Zealand (England won 33-19)
England v Argentina (England won 27-23)
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