England Rugby Faces Grueling Nations Championship Test Amidst Captaincy Questions

At some stage there will be better times ahead for English rugby. They have an encouraging amount of young talent, a decent age profile and another 15 months to develop prior to the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Get it right – and they have a more than promising draw – and the sunlit uplands could yet be glimpsed in Australia next year.

That, at least, is the cosy scenario. First, though, there is the equivalent of a precarious-looking rope bridge to be crossed by those named in Steve Borthwick’s squad for this summer’s inaugural leg of the new Nations Championship. Three Tests in three different continents in successive weeks with a squad lacking its regular captain and on a four-match losing streak is not the idyllic travel brochure it might have been.

And how do we know the England management are not entirely confident about what will unfold? By the reappointment of the 35-year-old Jamie George as captain in the absence of Maro Itoje, who is rightly being given the chance to recharge his batteries. As with Joe Root and English cricket, a “safe pair of hands” tends to be shorthand for “what if the wheels fall off?”

A better decision might have been to appoint Leicester’s Ollie Chessum, certain to start and a leader visibly on the rise. George and one or two other senior players could have lent unselfish support and an image of England drawing a line under the recent past and pushing ahead with renewed vigour could have been genuinely projected instead.

On the plus side there are five uncapped players in the 36-strong party to face South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in the shape of Noah Caluori, Greg Fisilau, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, George Kloska and Vilikesa Sela, although Van Rensburg is ineligible to play against South Africa, the land of his birth because he will not be qualified via residency until the following week. The recall of the Bath centre Max Ojomoh is also welcome but there is no place for the young Northampton scrum-half Archie McParland, unfortunately injured in Saturday’s Prem final.

The big question is whether or not the squad can collectively withstand the assorted challenges ahead. With good reason Borthwick is calling it a “very demanding” schedule, highlighting the extensive travel and changes in climatic conditions, but he is hoping his squad will respond accordingly. “I am sure by preparing well and continuing to demand the highest standards from one another every day, we will be well placed to meet the challenge,” Borthwick said.

Chessum may well be entrusted with the on-field captaincy at some stage – it is hard to see George starting all three Tests in Johannesburg, Liverpool (they face Fiji at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium) and Santiago del Estero – but the recall of George as skipper, in common with Root, feels as much a nod to England’s recent travails as anything else.

While everyone in English rugby has absolute respect for the vast contribution the admirable George has made during his career, he was summarily ditched as England captain prior to last year’s Six Nations because Borthwick was keen to change the mood music. It is now the former’s task to persuade all and sundry that England’s lowly Six Nations finish was just a blip. The management’s desire to pursue bolder tactics is oft stated but the deflating defeat suffered by an England XV in Vannes last Friday suggested there remains a way to go.

There is also the brutal truth that even some of England’s most impressive up-and-comers have had demanding years already. Take their fly-half Fin Smith who admitted that after Northampton’s Prem final win that he has had to dig deep mentally after a difficult British & Irish Lions tour. “It’s been a tough season,” revealed Smith. “I probably just lost a bit of confidence and had to really try to get myself up for games at times. I was probably feeling like I had to fake it a little bit.

“But that’s the job of being a sportsman. You have the highs and the lows and really dive deep into that emotional store. It’s not been the easiest season and I’ve probably enjoyed my rugby slightly more than I have this year. But I won’t dwell on it too much. I’ll be pretty happy looking back now with the trophy and the (winners) medal.”