'I didn’t speak to Steve at all': Lawes outlines scenario he wouldn’t want England RWC recall

Former England captain Courtney Lawes has revealed that he did not communicate with England head coach Steve Borthwick before signing for Sale Sharks and reversing his international retirement, adding that he would only want to make England’s 2027 World Cup squad if he deserves to be there.

The 105-cap England international is set to return to the Gallagher PREM next season after two years in France with Brive, and has outlined his ambition to make the World Cup in Australia despite initially retiring from Test rugby after the 2023 showcase.

After a pitiful Guinness Six Nations campaign, in which England only registered an unprecedented one win and suffered a historic first loss to Italy, it would ostensibly appear that Lawes’ return was orchestrated to add the experience and quality of a five-cap British & Irish Lion to a beleaguered squad, despite now being the age of 37. But the flanker has confirmed that there had been no such communication with Borthwick, or anyone else for that matter.

“I didn’t speak to Steve at all. I hadn’t spoken to Steve before I came back,” Lawes said to former England team-mates Ben Youngs and Dan Cole on the For the Love of Rugby podcast recently.

“I didn’t really have any interactions with anyone. It was between me and my wife. We sat down and had a think about everything and how things would work.

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“It was very quick, I’d been waiting for a little while for my offer from Brive. That came in pretty much the same day that I started speaking to Sale. The offer from Sale had more perks for me, so we went with that and within 24 hours the deal was done and that was that. From that point on, it was like ‘ok, what are my ambitions from here?’ I’ve probably got one more season in rugby and that will be that, so where do we go?”

Not only does this reveal that Lawes is not – or at least was not – part of Borthwick’s plans for next season leading into the World Cup, but the Saints legend is not pressing the England boss to select him if he does not merit a place in the squad.

While he recognises he could bring a wealth of experience and leadership to the England squad, Lawes made it quite clear that he does not want to go to his fifth World Cup to “sit on the bench or be 24th man,” saying he “leads from the front.”

England’s back-row faltered at times during the Six Nations, but Borthwick has plenty of options at his disposal across the Gallagher PREM. Although Lawes believes age is irrelevant in a World Cup year, he said that it is “no problem whatsoever” if he is unable to make the cut.

He said: “I don’t want to go to the World Cup if I’ve got nothing to offer to the team. There are obviously leadership points in it, but I’m the kind of leader that leads from the front anyway. I’m not going there to sit on the bench or be 24th or whatever. As much as I want to offer everything I can to the team if I get the opportunity, I’m a competitor at the end of the day, so the idea for me is not just to go back and get in the team because I’m experienced. If I deserve to get back in the team because I can still play at that level then I’ll take a spot on the team, and if I can’t, I don’t think I deserve to be there, so that’s all there is to it.

“It’s just my personality. I want to compete and I’ve always wanted to be the best. I still feel like I can. It would be difficult to just go to the World Cup, even if it were the fifth World Cup, and not participate as much as I would like to. The past four World Cups, I’ve started the first game of every World Cup and I’ve been well in the thick of it in terms of my contribution to the team and that’s what I want to do. I want to be in the mix, I want to be offering not just my leadership skills but my ability as well.

“My ability to move here, how I’m still performing, all my statistics within the league, does lead me to believe that I can still probably perform at that kind of level. It’s a World Cup year, it’s not about how old you are. Who cares about your age? It’s about how you can perform and who’s going to be best for the team. So I’ll throw my hat back in the ring and if I’m not the best fit for the team, no problem. No problem whatsoever, I’ll carry on and do my best for Sale. But if I can, I’ll be happy to take the opportunity.”