LONG READ ‘Absence of England selection clarity makes it a guessing game who will face Springboks’

It says much about the state of flux in England’s backline that when they next run out against South Africa, Tommy Freeman may well be the only survivor from the side that started the Six Nations.

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During the course of a grim championship for England, backs came and went with 12 different starters beyond the pack across the five games. The absence of selection clarity makes it pretty much a guessing game who will line up against the Springboks.

Steve Borthwick’s training camp last week only served to muddy the waters further with the injury to his number one scrum-half Alex Mitchell. Out for the domestic season with a hamstring tear, Mitchell is almost certain to miss the date with the world champions.

Bath captain Ben Spencer, who deputised when Mitchell’s other hamstring went during the Six Nations, is the favourite to step up again but Leicester’s Jack van Poortvliet and the uncapped Archie McParland and Charlie Bracken were also involved in the camp.

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that Borthwick might team up 21-year-old McParland with his Northampton half-back team-mate Fin Smith for what would be a baptism of fire at Ellis Park.

Still, predicting who plays at half-back is a doddle compared to who plays at No 12 in between Smith and Freeman.

The contentious call-up for Benhard Janse van Rensburg shows where Borthwick’s mind may be wandering to in the medium term but the Bristolian Afrikaner does not complete his residency qualification until the Fiji game which lands in week two of the Nations Championship.

Having omitted Bath’s Max Ojomoh and Ollie Lawrence from his squad, the England coach will likely plump for either Fraser Dingwall, who started the Six Nations, or Seb Atkinson who ended it against France. Then again, he has picked Henry Slade at inside centre before.

If No 12 is complicated, the back three is all over the place.

What if Borthwick wants pure speed for the Highveld hard ground though? With Henry Arundell out of favour, he called up Adam Radwan as the speedster in his training squad. Might he be worth backing?

Freddie Steward was Borthwick’s choice at full-back for the first three rounds of the championship but lost his place to Elliot Daly for the last two. Daly, though, is out with a fractured arm while Steward has undergone surgery on a thumb injury.

Leicester are hopeful Steward’s season is not over – and if fit there would be a strong case for employing his physical robustness against the Springboks – but if England want to press on with the attacking brand which rattled France in the final game of the championship, then George Furbank or Marcus Smith come into the frame.

Meanwhile, on the wing, England have Manny Feyi-Waboso available again after missing the Six Nations. He would be many people’s first pick. However Noah Caluori, the Prem’s leading scorer, has been tearing down trees. If Tom Roebuck’s aerial game has made the strapping Sale man first choice down the right, the Saracens teenager can trump him when it comes to his super-skill.

What if Borthwick wants pure speed for the Highveld hard ground though? With Henry Arundell out of favour, he called up Adam Radwan as the speedster in his training squad. Might he be worth backing?

There is no shortage of options and that is without even mentioning Cadan Murley who started – and scored – in Paris. You pays your money and you takes your choice….

It is forever the blessing and curse for an England coach that he has a multitude of selection options, but most successful ones find a blend they like and stick with it. Think of Clive Woodward and his 2003 World Cup crew.  The only question with his backline was which Mike started in the centre – Catt or Tindall.

Fifteen months out from the 2027 iteration, Borthwick has yet to approach anything like the same level of stability. For such a solid character, he has turned out to be a surprisingly volatile selector.

Borthwick has another opportunity to shape the England side he wants. But in the case of the backline in particular, it is far from certain whether he knows himself what that is.

Part of that chop and change, in the period just gone, has been in response to circumstances. With England going badly off-track, he had to change something or the RFU might have changed him.

Having survived the post-Six Nations review, Borthwick has another opportunity in the Nations Championship to shape the England side he wants. But in the case of the backline in particular, it is far from certain whether he knows himself what that is.

All the uncertainty brings into sharp focus the next fortnight in the Prem and the conclusion of the regular season.

For all that there have been rightful question marks raised over the league’s viability as a Test proving ground given some of the one-sided blow-outs of late, it is the only competitive lab Borthwick has got and he will be scrutinising goings-on intently.

For those in and around the squad whose clubs cannot make the play-offs, these will be their last two games to lay out clearly what they can offer. And there are ready-made opportunities out there.

Atkinson could end up going head-to-head with Dingwall on Saturday as Gloucester travel to Northampton. Murley, likewise, may confront Caluori when Harlequins face Saracens the same day.

They need eye-catching ends to the domestic season and what better way than to land a blow or two, metaphorically speaking, on their England rivals.

Rugby union though, for all the well-meaning attempts to build ‘characters’ to appeal to Gen Z, remains a game of the collective rather than the individual. One player cannot thrive unless his team-mates give him the platform to do so.

Quins, for all that they have picked up of late, and Gloucester have missed out on the play-offs by a distance for a reason.

In the race for a place against South Africa, it is the players at the top clubs, those chasing the glory, that hold the cards.

If the most their clubs can summon up by way of motivational aspiration is a fag-end route via a top-eight finish to qualification for next season’s Champions Cup, it is not an encouraging launchpad for an England audition.

In the race for a place against South Africa, it is the players at the top clubs, those chasing the glory, that hold the cards.

Beyond this next fortnight, they will have a Prem semi-final and hopefully a final to look forward to – four more opportunities in all to tap Borthwick on the shoulder.

There are more sustainable ways to pick an international side for sure, but in the absence of anything that passes for certainty with England at present, the more chances the better for his backline wannabes.