LONG READ Mick Cleary: ‘Borthwick’s squad may not set the pulses racing but it has substance. It's time to lay down markers.’

The Tinkerman has been made redundant. The time for experimentation, for taking a punt on a player or rolling the dice, is fast fading into the background. And the reason is simple – the 2027 Rugby World Cup is as good as upon us. Nine full-bore Test matches between now and the moment when that fiddly, faffy pre-tournament spell of warm-up games begins.

Steve Borthwick needs to know his mind, his players need to know where they stand and the supporters need to know the team’s identity as they weigh up whether to splurge the cash in the hope that England might repeat the feat of Clive Woodward’s side the last time there was a World Cup on Australian soil. They can but hope, far-fetched as that scenario seems when compared to where England were 12 months prior to RWC2003. England strutted towards the tournament 23 years ago. Borthwick’s side have yet to break into meaningful stride. Time is ticking.

Borthwick has not been as conservative a selector as he is made out to be. Conservative as a strategist, perhaps, kick-and-clap and all that, but the England head coach has run the rule over a number of contenders in the three-year period since the World Cup in France. There are a couple of shout-out hurrahs in the 36-man training squad for what is shaping up to be a hugely important Nations Championship but the overriding sense is that Borthwick’s World Cup men are already on parade. The fact that there are two outliers – Bath hooker Kepu Tuipulotu and Northampton scrum-half Archie McParland – will ensure there is a pep added to training as the uncapped duo push their claims, knowing that this is the last chance to make a mark, injuries notwithstanding.

Borthwick is right to trust those he knows, even if England’s record in 2026 is underwhelming. Club form can be distracting if it is taken as a copper-bottom statement of a player’s worth on the international stage. That has always been the case. And now, in this beguiling, delusional era of PREM rugby where attack appears to be the be-all and end-all of every game, the truth of that maxim is all the more important. The results of the English clubs in Europe prove that, with only one win (and one draw) amongst the lot of them. Playing fast and loose gets you only so far. At Test level it tends to bite you on the bum.

Australia, England’s first opponents at Twickenham this autumn, have shown much-needed spark in attack as thy look to clamber back up the rankings.

Not that this season’s fad of throw-caution-to-the-winds rugby is to be wholly derided. Far from it. England have been weighed down by their own inhibitions, casting off the shackles only when they are on the ropes and in desperate need of some oomph. It was true early in the 2025 Six Nations and true again in this year’s championship. Only when it was too late did they take the game to the opposition and really set France on edge as they came at them. That attitude and those skills – the ability to see space and sense opportunity, and have the handling skills to make it all come together – are now an essential at Test level.

South Africa have developed their own game to that end with power the foundation and pace the crucial adornment, while the All Blacks have long thrived on such a premise. Australia, England’s first opponents at Twickenham this autumn, have shown much-needed spark in attack as thy look to clamber back up the rankings. England won’t get far if their own horizons are limited. That kind of game, that inclination to play the percentages, just doesn’t cut it any more even at Test level.

At the risk of damning him with faint praise, Borthwick has a solid squad at his disposal. It may not set the pulses racing but it has substance. There is age-old concern as to what the best combo is in the centre or, rather, a notable lack of candidates screaming for inclusion in the manner that a Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel partnership does. Borthwick does not have players of that calibre. It is England’s biggest fault line in terms of their World Cup prospects. Andre Esterhuizen would have been a shoo-in for England over the past few years if he had been eligible, or Jordie Barrett and so on. Instead Borthwick has had to make do and mend, shuffling through his options, seemingly hitting on the right line-up only for an Ollie Lawrence to lose his way or for a Max Ojomoh not to be considered the right fit – and on it goes.

Just like Napoleon and his generals, if there is one quality a head coach needs, it’s luck. Borthwick’s stock is fraying at the edges in that regard. The Cumbrian has two of the best back-row forwards in Europe with the correct passports but not the correct postcodes to their name. Jack Willis in particular would be the first selection on any teamsheet in Europe, perhaps the world. And when it comes to nurturing a big, banging centre in the form of Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Borthwick ticks all the necessary qualification boxes only for the South African-born player to be stood down ‘indefinitely’ after suffering two heavy-duty concussions. That does not bode well. It is, of course, the right decision first and foremost for the player in what is a worrying development for him.

Courtney Lawes has not made this cut but even at this distance his presence would be a real boon to a World Cup squad if he fronts up for his club over the next six months.

All coaches have to deal with injury, both in the build-up and during the tournament itself, a head-scratching factor for those coaches whose back-up guys might be thousands of miles away from Australia. There is a nod to that sort of potential predicament in Borthwick’s choice of Joe Marchant and Will Joseph, both centres by trade but adept also at wing. England have options in that regard across the midfield and back three.

The die looks pretty much cast up front and it is a boost to England’s short-term prospects in the Nations Championship that props Fin Baxter and Will Stuart are back in the fold. Hooker remains a fingers-crossed operation that the ageing legs and lungs of Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie prove to be sound for another 12 months. The back row continues to lack a specialist tone: all good players in their own right but the balance eludes them in the absence of our French friends. Courtney Lawes has not made this cut but even at this distance his presence would be a real boon to a World Cup squad if he fronts up for his club over the next six months.

The Nations Championship comes at a challenging time for England and Borthwick. This is their last outing against the southern hemisphere. It is time to allay anxieties and to lay down some markers. They have not been fast starters but there is no time for them to build a head of steam. Lose against the Wallabies and the stakes become immediately red-hot. A league table, rather than old-fashioned ‘friendly’ fixtures, carries a greater sense of reckoning to it. In that regard, Borthwick would have been delighted to see several of his England squad piling into each other on and around the steps of Welford Road last weekend – Ollie Chessum and Henry Pollock in particular having a heated tête-à-tête. Bottle that fighting spirit. England will need every last drop.