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'Prince of Centres' Jeremy Guscott dumbfounded by 'odd' England omission


Max Ojomoh (right) celebrates after scoring England's first try during the Quilter Nations Series match between England and Argentina at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on November 23rd 2025 in London, England (Photo by Tom Jenkins/ Getty Images)
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Jeremy Guscott, arguably England’s greatest centre, is mystified by Steve Borthwick’s decision to leave Max Ojomoh out of his latest England squad.

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The 42 players chosen to attend a three-day training camp at England’s Performance Centre at Pennyhill Park this week include Bristol’s uncapped centre Benhard Janse Van Rensburg, but not Bath’s Ojomoh, who proved his fitness with a sublime cameo off the bench against Newcastle last weekend after nearly a month out with injury.

Ojomoh has fallen out of favour with Borthwick since a Player of the Match display against Argentina last November, and has failed to add to his two caps since then, much to Guscott’s surprise.

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Writing on X, the 73-cap international (England the Lions) said: “Max Ojomoh being left out of Borthwick’s latest England training squad feels a strange one. How do you go from man of the match v Argentina six months ago to not making a large England squad?

“England’s biggest issue in the Six Nations, apart from defence, wasn’t getting into the opposition 22, it was finishing once they got there. Four defeats, plenty of pressure, not enough points. So leaving out a player who creates tries, scores tries and passes the eye test feels odd.

“Clearly Steve Borthwick is measuring players against very specific metrics and standards behind the scenes, and whatever they are, Ojomoh hasn’t ticked enough boxes. But from the outside looking in, it’s hard to understand.

“Sometimes rugby people overcomplicate what’s in front of them. Ojomoh looks good enough. More than good enough, actually.”

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4 Comments
A
Alex 18 days ago

Those omissions will seem bigger and more pertinent should the midfield fail to spark in the nations championship. Leaving out Barbeary also beggars belief. If Dombrandt and JVR don't pan out well then it'll just continue piling pressure on in Borthwick. One thing that seems clear is he's doubling down on his metrics-based approach. If it doesn't yield results, and fast after that abject six nations, I don't see him being given the reins in leading the team into the next world cup.

A
Ayre123 None 18 days ago

Little doubt why Guscott supports a Bath player, however he doesn’t support Arundell who is a Bath player too😀

u
unknown 18 days ago

Ex Bath player confused at omission of the Bath player who just happens to be the son of one of his ex Bath teammates. Shocker !!!

C
CM 18 days ago

Borthwick’s selection policy is a mystery to anyone who watched Premiership rugby. Borthwick is the reason for the adject failure of England through his selection policy in the 6 Nations. And he still selects failures like Ford, Slade Isiewke.

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