Steve Borthwick makes 5 changes to his 2025/26 Elite Player Squad

England have revealed the 25 players who will receive enhanced Elite Player Squad contracts ahead of the new season, with five changes made in total.

The five new additions are Gloucester centre Seb Atkinson, Northampton Saints lock Alex Coles, Sale Sharks prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Bath flanker Guy Pepper and Leicester Tigers scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet.

These new additions are not exactly like-for-like replacements for the five players who have lost their contracts. While Pepper can be seen as a direct replacement for Ben Curry, who failed to play a game for England last season due to a recurring hamstring issue, as can Atkinson for Ollie Lawrence, who fell out of favour during the Six Nations, the final three changes are not like-for-like.

Having agreed to leave English rugby shortly after being granted an EPS contract last season, Bordeaux-Begles-bound Tom Willis is obviously not part of the squad this year. His former Saracens team-mate Elliot Daly, who will turn 34 in October, has also missed out, as has fellow back-three option Tom Roebuck.

Given the wealth of back-three talent England currently have, it is understandable that Borthwick has opted against granting EPS contracts to certain players when their place in the squad is insecure. Roebuck, for instance, failed to initially make England’s squad for the Nations Championship in July.

Fixture

Nations Championship

England

09:10

8 Nov 26

Australia

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Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank and Marcus Smith are now the only back-tree players on EPS contracts, though the likes of Cadan Murley, Noah Caluori, and indeed Roebuck, Daly and Freddie Steward could well get some game time over the coming season.

England’s enhanced EPS contracts:
Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
George Furbank (Harlequins)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
George Martin (Saracens)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)