It is 22 years since England won the World Cup under the auspices of Sir Clive Woodward in 2003. They are the only northern nation to have interrupted the victory procession of the southern hemisphere ‘big three’ of the Wallabies, Springboks and All Blacks. Speak it in a whisper, but the stars may just be aligning for another English World Cup triumph at the 2027 World Cup.
The tournament will be played in Australia, the same venue where Woodward’s men achieved their success. The comparisons are appropriate, because head coach Steve Borthwick is rapidly assembling the deepest and most powerful squad of England players since the turn of the millennium, and he will be reminding them of their historical provenance in the land down under. Rugby in Australia holds no fears for the men in white.
Borthwick’s selection is as far-sighted now as Woodward’s was back then, and it is being developed with Australia’s hard grounds and clement rugby climate in mind. The end-of-year campaign showed that he is developing two separate front-row combinations to provide 80-minute impact and challenge the Springboks at their point of super-strength.
Woodward could pick horses for different courses from among a deep pool of props including Phil Vickery, Julian White, Jason Leonard, Trevor Woodman and Graham Rowntree. Borthwick already has Will Stuart, Joe Heyes, Fin Baxter, Ellis Genge and Asher Opoku-Fordjour at his disposal.
The Cumbrian supremo has also reverse-engineered his back-row selection philosophy to accommodate the host of high-quality number sevens currently being produced in the Prem. Once again, he is following a well-worn, World Cup-winning coaching footprint. Sir Clive had been the first England coach of that era to abandon ‘the big back row’ theory which had been espoused by Geoff Cooke and Jack Rowell before him. Let Tigers’ Neil Back, all 5ft 10ins of him, and 90 kilos dripping wet, pick up the story:
“I felt Geoff Cooke and Jack Rowell ultimately came to grief as England coaches at the very highest level because they wanted big blokes playing at No.7 – Ben Clarke, Steve Ojomoh and even a young Lawrence Dallaglio. In my opinion it set the development of English rugby back years.
“I had spent all of my rugby life training with the backs, learning how to play the linking role between forwards and backs until it became second nature. Lawrence, Steve and Ben were all great players, but how many of them could say the same?
“In global terms, it restricted England to being a bully in its own backyard. A very good bully it has to be said, but in my opinion Cooke and Rowell were content with dominating the Six Nations rather than [attempting to] beat the likes of Australia, South Africa and the All Blacks.
“[England defence coach] Phil Larder and Clive Woodward had a very different mindset in terms of what they thought an England team could be, and it certainly affected their view of what a Neil Back could contribute.”
Where Cooke and Rowell had looked straight past the small man as if he was invisible, Woodward and Larder came to the same situation with an open mind. Phil Larder immediately recognised that ‘Backy’ was the best tackler on the team, with the highest level of conditioning, and ‘the only one who could play Rugby League right away’. All of a sudden, size really didn’t matter.
The preferred England back row by 2003 had Back and Richard Hill bookending Dallaglio at No 8; none of the three an acknowledged lineout expert or a penny over 6ft 4ins but every man jack having started games of rugby for England on the openside of the scrum.
Woodward banished the blinkered obsession with size in the back five forwards, all the way back to where it belonged in the Dark Ages, and 20 years later Steve Borthwick is doing the same. ‘Borthers’ is tipping his hat to England’s current glut of high-quality breakaways by picking no less than five number sevens in his 23-man squad. Furthermore, Maro Itoje’s partner in the second row throughout 2025 has been permed from a group of men who have all played blind-side flanker for their clubs – to wit Ollie Chessum, Chandler Cunningham-South, Alex Coles or Charlie Ewels.
The desire for size and athleticism has if anything, moved backwards in the team, back as far as the back three, and this is where England in 2027 may prove to be a significant improvement on its predecessor 24 years ago. Take a look at the differential in size:
The average for England 2003 is 5ft 10.5 inches tall and 91 kilos but by 2027 those figures may have grown to 6ft 3ins and almost 100kgs. The 2003 group featured three players under 6ft tall in the back three, with only Ben Cohen a true aerial menace. Wind the clock on 24 years and it is likely every player in the back three will be over 6ft tall and at least four of the group will be outstanding ‘masters of the air-waves’.
From Borthwick’s point of view, the changes which allow the chaser of a high ball unimpeded access to the contest could not have come at a better moment. He now has a range of tall, top-drawer athletes to win the ball in the air and a host of sevens buzzing at ground zero to pick up any crumbs which fall from the table.
Whether it is a high contestable or cross-kick, the direct link from George Ford or Fin Smith or Owen Farrell to the wings represents a genuine threat. The first hint came in the second Test of England’s 2024 tour of New Zealand:
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) December 1, 2025
This is Marcus Smith to Tommy Freeman on the cross-kick near the New Zealand goal-line. Come the autumn of 2025, the British & Irish Lions’ Test wingman had been moved inside to number 13, with big Tom Roebuck taking his place versus Australia:
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) November 2, 2025
On this occasion it is a high contestable kick from an exit scenario, but the connection between Ford [kicking] and Roebuck [receiving] is just as smooth as it was between Marcus and Tommy over 12 months before. Roebuck wins his individual aerial battle with Australian League kingpin Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i, and then the speed of England’s new sevens-based back-row takes over. As soon as Roebuck wins the first touch, the two men closest to him are Ben Earl and Sam Underhill, who run straight past the only big back-rower in the vicinity, Australia’s Bobby Valetini. In the final act, Saracens ace Earl comfortably outpaces a brace of chasing Wallaby backs en route to the posts.
The form of the latest teen sensation suggests that England could get even better in the air than either Roebuck or Freeman. Saracens winger Noah Caluori, only 19, was originally brought in to England’s training camp at Bagshot to impersonate Sua’ali’i in a hi-vis jacket ahead of the game against the Wallabies, only a few weeks after scoring two tries for Champ club Ampthill against the Cornish Pirates on loan. The transition from the humble surroundings of Dillingham Park to palatial Pennyhill within one solitary month was breathtaking:
“It was a bit like ‘I can’t believe this is happening’, because my first call-up was a bit unexpected, the day after the Sale game [where Caluori scored five tries for Saracens on debut].
“There was a moment where I thought ‘I’m going to flick the switch, I’m going to go for it all’. On the high-intensity Tuesday, Maro [Itoje], my captain at Saracens and with England, told me to not let this opportunity go to waste.
“He said a lot of people come into camp for the first time and think ‘I’m just going to cruise by this, not do anything, not make any mistakes’. And he told me that while he knows I’m not that type of player, just to go for it. That really motivated me.”
As his coach with England Under-18s Will Parkin explained, “If you can jump higher than the other kids and then catch above your head, it’s going to be undefendable.” Amen to that.
Noah Caluori can do things in the air that even basketball legend Michel Jordan would appreciate:
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) December 1, 2025
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) December 1, 2025
In the first clip the young man runs 40 metres at full tilt to take the ball in stride without any hesitation at all. Most wingers would not have made it to the 22 without losing orientation or running out of gas, or both. The second example illustrates the sheer heights that Caluori can scale. He is so far off the ground that his opposite number ends up running through his hips. You can either allow yourself to be outjumped in the contest or you foul the Mill Hill prodigy and give up a penalty try, and Sale’s Tom O’Flaherty chose the latter.
Caluori is equally dangerous returning kicks out of defence, and his ability to run through the catch and transition seamlessly into a sprint is uncanny:
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) December 1, 2025
Arguably England emerged from the end-of-year tours with as many positives to count from their investments as South Africa. Borthwick’s men learned that the multiple number sevens theory could work against a New Zealand team which included four men with experience of starting professional games at either number six or number eight.
They found one right wing with as much, if not more, aerial ability than Freeman in Roebuck, and they practised against another teenager with more potential than both at Pennyhill Park in Caluori. English rugby is moving in the right direction, and it may be moving as quickly as it did back in 2002-2003. Right now, only Rassie’s Springboks stand in the road.
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I was 1994-1996, so the happy days of the amateur era.
Bristol had the older senior players like Pete Stiff, Ralph Knibbs & Mark Tainton playing back then, with some really good younger players like Alan Sharp, Mark Regan, Paul Hull, Derek Eves and some brilliant youngsters - Simon Shaw, Martin Corry, Kev Maggs etc
Cannot wait for the SB England game next year to see how they are stacking up. Dont think England can live with the SB pack for 80 mins. But let’s see! What the author has maybe got wrong is the need for very tall outside backs to field kicks - KLA and Cheslin are not tall players yet they are incredible in the air.
England won’t have a problem maintaining their standard and even upping it late over 80 minutes.
Whether that standard is good enough to beat the Boks is another question.
Sure the the Bok pair are good at it, but Eng were better at the RWC semi in 2023… A good big un will always… -you know the rest!
England sure have adapted to the new kick chase laws and are looking like front runners for the upcoming box kick world champs (aka the 6 nations…)
It’s really noticeable how IRE & ENG kick to contest and FRA kick (very) long the majority of the time and then press you in defence to force you to kick the ball back.
Yes it could be a separate championship!
I see the replies incoming! Sorry NH fans I couldn’t resist a dig at the 6N. I think the new kick chase laws are great but alongside the 9 getting so much time and protection, rugby is looking a bit like it did in 2021, not flash.
Props to England for adapting the fastest though, they have improved a lot more than just their kicking strategy too.