Steve Borthwick has shown his hand early for England’s upcoming Autumn Nations Series match against Australia, by naming his team this afternoon at Pennyhill Park. Borthwick has not made any changes to personnel in his starting XV, yet the head coach has made some positional alterations for the battle with the Wallabies.
Borthwick has also called in Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Sleightholme to the match day 23, with the two replacements set for their first taste of Test match action this Autumn. England last took on the Wallabies in 2022, in what was the Summer tour that has been best remembered as Marcus Smith’s breakthrough. England claimed a 2-1 win in the series, after losing the opening fixture in Perth, before claiming back-to-back wins in Brisbane and Sydney.
England’s most famous win over Australia has to be the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final, with the image of Jonny Wilkinson slotting the match winning drop goal embedded in the hearts and minds of England fans.
The hosts have had an impressive run of success against the Wallabies, with Australia winning just twice in their last 12 meetings, dating back to the 2015 Rugby World Cup pool stage. Steve Borthwick spoke to the reporting media this afternoon, and addressed the key areas of his squad, after penning in his match day 23 for this Saturday’s clash with the Wallabies. Here are the five biggest talking points.
5. Borthwick reviews the dramatic end of All Blacks defeat and George Ford’s miss
Borthwick rounded off the media session by giving his thoughts to what went wrong, as George Ford missed the crucial drop kick that would have won Saturday’s match. Ford sent his last-ditch drop goal wide of the Allianz uprights, with the All Blacks holding on to the opening Autumn win by the narrowest of margins.
“I don’t think we gave him the best platform. I know we didn’t give him the best platform, and we’re disappointed in that now. So what it means again, is we can review that.
“Whilst we’ve talked about it, we’ve gone through in training many times, put them in the scenario, a very similar scenario. Twice last week, we’re in a very similar scenario to the one that actually was had played out at the end.”
“If you look at that start, if you look at that again, that series, where it starts from is the scrum. “And so what do you want to do is, if you’ve got a scrum under the opposition posts, and you’re losing by two points, then you’ve got to scrum to set up, and it’s a great scrum that gets the ball out to ensure that you have a great target.
“To then set, to do what you wish to do, and puts the pressure upon the opposition. Ultimately, they put pressure upon our scrum ball, which then eventually led to George being put under pressure.
“We didn’t give George the platform he was required to do. So that’s a frustration. It’ll be something we’ll do better in the future.”
“George is a player with 97 caps, he has seen a lot, he has been through a lot and he understands it was a width of a post. He did so much that was really excellent on Saturday in that final 20.
“He (George Ford) is disappointed and frustrated. The emotion of the whole squad has been one of disappointment and one of frustration, but he has been terrific. He has been a model of how you handle that disappointment to the other players. He is ‘we have got to get better’ and we will.
2. No players changed from the starting XV for Australia Test
Borthwick continues to reiterate his mantra of consistency being key, with no changes made to the names set to run out in his starting XV. Whilst there has been swaps in the centres and new names on the bench, the sailing remains plane for Borthwick as he gets set to navigate the second match of the Autumn Series.
“Continuity and cohesion is a really important aspect for us as we develop the relationships between the players.” Borthwick said.
“There were lots of positives in the performance. We are obviously disappointed and frustrated with the result. But I thought there were lots of positives and we want to continue to build on that.”
3. Borthwick swaps Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence centre channels for Wallabies
An interesting tactical change takes place in the starting line-up, as the midfield duo of Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade have been swapped for this Saturday’s fixture. Typically, Borthwick has opted for his Bath bruiser Lawrence in the 12 shirt, with the playmaking Chief Henry Slade taking the 13 jersey. However, this week we see Lawrence run outside at 13, with Slade moving across to inside centre channel.
“The way they play is pretty interchangeable generally and if you studied the way we play you can see that, where that defend and where they attack. We felt chatting to them, putting them in the other roles, it’s an important aspect of some of the things we’re working on as we develop our attack in particular. I’m not going to talk fully about that right now, but we feel it’s right for the next step in where we want to go.”
“There’s an attacking emphasis here. You’ve see the way Sladey defends in that 13 channel. He’s very good and covers a lot of ground there. Very much focused more on the attack.”
“They’ve got a run of games playing together. I think they rank third in consecutive starts together for centres for England. You’d have check that stat.As we build the cohesion of them together, how they build with Manny on the wing, how they link with Tommy Freeman on the other wing and Furbs coming in at 15, it’s just the way we’re trying to evolve in the direction we wish to go in.”
4. No Theo Dan in the squad – Luke Cowan-Dickie is named as replacement hooker
Theo Dan misses out on the squad this week, despite the Saracen reportedly being all clear to play. Dan took a heavy head to head collision with Anton Lienert-Brown in the closing stages of the match last Saturday, with the All Blacks centre subsequently shown a yellow card for his actions. However, there is no report of Dan suffering any head injury issues, with the decision to bring Luke Cowan-Dickie up to the bench being a tactical one.
Steve Borthwick cast his thoughts upon the decision to bring Cowan-Dickie back into the fold “I think we’ve got three really top class hookers there.” The head coach said.
“I think Theo has done tremendously well over this last period when, from winning his first cap just before the World Cup last year and he’s been in just about every match day 23 since that point in time.
“He way he carried last weekend was very good. Luke Cowan-Dickie is a very good international hooker with plenty of experience. I’ve seen him come back to fitness and seen him now in camp for a couple of weeks, and I think he looks fitter, sharper. I think he’s in good form, I’ve seen him play for his club so I think he looks back towards his best.
“He adds a lot in terms of not just his play, but the experience and the character he brings with me.”
5. Back to the 5-3 split on the bench and Ollie Sleightholme is back for England
Borthwick has gone back to the typical 5-3 split between forwards and backs on his replacements bench, after going for the forward-heavy 6-2 split against the All Blacks. This sees Ollie Sleightholme back on the replacements, with Borthwick naming him alongside last weekend’s replacement halfbacks Harry Randall and George Ford.
Sleightholme missed out on Test match minutes against the All Blacks, with the 24-year-old unable to build upon his previous Summer caps against Scott Robertson’s side. Sleightholme get’s his chance this weekend, with plenty of expectation on the back-three star.
“The 6-2 I felt was right for the New Zealand and other than that very small margin, it worked out pretty well. I am sure we will be 6-2 again in the not too distant future. I felt 5-3 was the right combination for this week, looking at the players and where they are.
“Bringing Ollie Sleightholme onto the bench, we saw when he came into the international arena in the summer, the impact he had particularly in Auckland, the speed that he has. We think that could be really important for us this week.”
“I look at the condition of the forward pack and what is right for the forward pack and the team as a whole. I felt that was very much a 6-2, some reflections from the tour in the summer playing that two Test series. I felt that 6-2 was the right nature for our squad last Saturday. 5-3 I think adds a different dimension this week.”
