LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'Giving the world champions a run for their money would rightly set the tone for the next 15 months.'

The Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2027 is the end-goal for Steve Borthwick. A wag might chirp that it might even be the end in itself if it all goes pear shaped, as it did in this year’s Six Nations Championship, but in truth, every team in the world operates to a four-year cycle these days. A word of caution if you have your sights set too far on the horizon, the here-and-now can come back to bite you on the backside. The only game that really does matter is the next one.

But let’s give Borthwick the benefit of the doubt. Winning a World Cup is a mightily worthwhile project and that makes Benhard Janse van Rensburg a project player par excellence. By his own terms of reference, the 29-year-old is worth the effort to get him into the national squad in time for the second of England’s summer Nations Championship matches.

Borthwick is only doing what he thinks is best for England’s prospects. Personally, I think Max Ojomoh or Ollie Lawrence deserved another shot but Borthwick feels he needs a Manu Tuilagi-type presence in midfield – which he does – and even though van Rensburg may not have the heft of another South African, Andre Esterhuizen, who did such a fine job for Harlequins, it’s worth a look-see.

The look-see attitude can still be applied to Jack and Tom Willis. We all know the backdrop. Jack was forced to make his bed elsewhere because of the financial capitulation at Wasps, while Tom will head to Bordeaux next season. Neither player is beyond reach. Woodward landed Jason Robinson against the odds and if there is a will, there is always a way. A World Cup triumph cleanses the soul of all sins, silences every single doubter, so it’s not too late to revisit said strategy.

England are not alone in being between a rock and a hard place when weighing up who to play and who to rest over the summer.

In the search for a bumper and thumper, England turning back to Alex Dombrandt shows that they are unhappy with their ability to get over the gain-line. Ben Earl is a fine player, with a remarkable V8 engine, but he is not a blaster in heavy traffic. Dombrandt has been tried before and deemed to come up short, so this summer will give us definitive proof whether the selection was foolhardy or a stroke of genius.

England are not alone in being between a rock and a hard place when weighing up who to play and who to rest over the summer. There will be pressure on head coaches to consider giving those players who went the distance for the British & Irish Lions last summer a complete stand-down few months so as to be fit and firing for the World Cup but it is all the more difficult to order R&R for a cadre of senior players such as a Maro Itoje, if England are searching to get the show back on the road with a couple of wins.

There is no guarantee that resting players will mean that they perform at a much higher level 12 months later. Woodward tried it in 1998 when the Tour from Hell took place without leading lights with a view to making a mark at the 1999 World Cup only for that to end in tears with ignominious quarter-final defeat to the drop-kicking boot of Springbok fly-half, Jannie de Beer.

There is a credibility issue in play and the only way for England to prove that their final day flourish against France was no fluke.

There is a conundrum to resolve over Itoje. My view is that he should lead the side out in Johannesburg in seven weeks’ time. Never mind the merits of the inaugural tournament, it is whopper of a fixture in its own right. This is all the more so given England’s sub-optimal Six Nations and the subsequent scrutiny of Borthwick’s coaching.

There is a credibility issue in play and the only way for England to prove that their final day flourish against France was no fluke (albeit, remember, they did lose with the last kick of the game) is to go out against the ‘Boks and give it a lash. Not recklessly so but with attitude. Giving the world champions a run for their money would rightly set the tone for the next 15 months. Itoje is the man to lead that charge. The Saracen should then be given three months to recharge and complete a full and proper pre-season.

There are other this-and-that selections to weigh-up in Borthwick’s 42-man training squad but that is a routine matter. It is certainly heartening to see the likes of Charlie Bracken, Noah Caluori, Archie McParland and Kepu Tuipulotu coming through. Young bounders with a high ceiling, who have excelled in this season’s Gallagher Prem, so whether the World Cup may appear too soon for them or not, we shall soon find out, for this is prime audition time. The stage is theirs, for better or for worse.

England training squad

Forwards
Jamie Blamire (Leicester), Ollie Chessum (Leicester), Arthur Clark (Gloucester), Alex Coles (Northampton), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Tom Curry (Sale), Theo Dan (Saracens), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), Ben Earl (Saracens), Ellis Genge (Bristol), Jamie George (Saracens), Joe Heyes (Leicester), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton), George Martin (Leicester), Beno Obano (Bath), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale), Guy Pepper (Bath), Henry Pollock (Northampton), Vilikesa Sela (Bath), Kepu Tuipulotu (Bath).

Backs
Seb Atkinson (Gloucester), Charlie Bracken (Saracens), Noah Caluori (Saracens), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter), George Ford (Sale), Tommy Freeman (Northampton), George Furbank (Northampton), Benhard Janse van Rensburg (Bristol), Archie McParland (Northampton), Alex Mitchell (Northampton), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Adam Radwan (Leicester), Tom Roebuck (Sale), Henry Slade (Exeter), Fin Smith (Northampton), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath), Freddie Steward (Leicester), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester).
Rehabilitation: Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks).

Not considered for selection: Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Ben Curry (Sale), Elliot Daly (Saracens), Trevor Davison (Northampton), Greg Fisilau (Exeter), Will Muir (Bath), Bevan Rodd (Sale), Sam Underhill (Bath).