England Rugby News
England bounced back in style with an 11-try victory over Fiji in Liverpool
2 mins. A single carry before Van Poortvliet sets up the caterpillar ruck to box-kick to touch for a zero nonsense start from England. This is not the case from Fiji from the lineout as Tagitagivalu spills a simple tap off the top; presenting England a scrum that promptly results in penalty against Mawi.
Caleb Muntz chips through the shimmering summer air deep into England territory.
Continue reading...Team head to Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium to face Fiji needing to avoid a sixth straight defeat, with eyes on debutants Van Rensburg and Caluori
England’s men venture north to play international rugby union so infrequently that their Nations Championship fixture against Fiji is a newsflash in itself. It is more than a decade since the north-west last staged a union Test and approaching 30 years since the England coaches Steve Borthwick and Richard Wigglesworth, among others, had their youthful sporting ambitions sparked by watching England at Old Trafford and Huddersfield respectively in the late 1990s.
So even in the dog days of July, with temperatures nudging 30 degrees celsius and Merseyside feeling more akin to the Med, this particular game is significant even before England’s recent five-game losing streak is layered on. Get it right and Borthwick can head to Argentina for the final leg of this summer’s magic mystery tour with some pressure relieved. Get it wrong at Hill Dickinson Stadium and a hard day’s night looms.
Continue reading...Janse van Rensburg, Caluori and Kloska to make debuts
Head coach: ‘My conversations with the RFU are private’
Steve Borthwick says he and his players are also feeling “the hurt and pain” caused by England’s losing streak but has sidestepped questions about his job security if his team are beaten by Fiji on Saturday. The head coach has not tasted victory since early February and will come under significant external pressure should his side slip to a sixth successive Test defeat at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Continue reading...Uncapped back set for Nations Championship call-up
Squad aims to bounce back at Hill Dickinson Stadium
England’s rugby players could be forgiven for wondering which way is up. On Sunday they were in South Africa, next Monday they will be in South America and they are now in sub‑Saharan Surrey preparing to face Fiji in Liverpool this Saturday. Ironically it is warmer in Bagshot this week than it is in Suva, albeit with fewer coral reefs and fresh coconuts.
Regardless of the rotating backdrop, though, there is no disguising the lingering disappointment of the 45-21 defeat against the Springboks in Johannesburg last weekend. Victory at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium would not repair everything overnight but there is widespread acceptance within the camp that they need to rebound strongly on Saturday.
Continue reading...England blown away in the second half as South Africa underline their status as the world’s leading team.
‘The final countdown’ blasts around Ellis Park.
Decent crowd in as James Doleman blows his whistle and we’re under way with Libbok kicking us off!
Continue reading...The former England prop talks about his concern for modern players, his style and how he deals with fame
As England prepare for their first match in the Nations Championship against South Africa and The Celebrity Traitors returns to our screens, Joe Marler – recently central to both – joins us for a chat about player welfare, Stephen Fry’s slang and the importance of men looking out for each other.
How much did you plan your exit route from rugby? Did your post-rugby career just fall into place?
“I would say my post-rugby experiences have followed my rugby experiences in the sense that I winged it for 17 years and continue to wing it now. There’s a distinct lack of planning on my behalf. I’m just very fortunate that I’ve got some lovely people around me who are far more intelligent and attentive to detail, and navigate me in the right ways.”
For better or worse, the inaugural edition of the inter-hemisphere tournament launches with even more long-haul flights in a drive to attract greater interest
Brave is one word for it. Let’s launch a must-see global rugby tournament in direct opposition to the football World Cup, Wimbledon, the Open and Formula One. Necessitating even more long-haul flights and an enlarged carbon footprint in an era of soaring jet-fuel prices and climate-change concerns. And with some of the world’s most box-office players unavailable. Right-ho.
Welcome, for better or worse, to the inaugural Nations Championship, which kicks off in Christchurch, Tokyo, Sydney, Cardiff, Johannesburg and Córdoba next weekend. Spot the odd ones out, by the way. Yes, contrary to the atlas, Cardiff and Tokyo are now southern hemisphere venues. For various reasons Fiji are “hosting” Wales beside the swaying palms of Tiger Bay while Japan, for the sake of numerical convenience, are in with the traditional southern powerhouses.
Continue reading...Squad are due to arrive in Johannesburg on Thursday
Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus praises Henry Pollock
Marcus Smith says England are flying south determined to make a fast and furious start to the new Nations Championship at South Africa’s expense next week. A 36-man squad will touch down in Johannesburg on Thursday and Smith says there is a shared desire to rise to the high-altitude challenge of upsetting the world champions in their backyard.
England have been training in oxygen masks in Bagshot to prepare themselves for the Highveld and, with games against Fiji and Argentina to follow, are conscious of the need to make an early impression against the Springboks. “It’s one shot,” said Smith, who has now played 50 Tests for his country. “We’ve spoken about leaving it all out there. It’s a hell of an opportunity. I don’t think England have been there since 2018 so we could create history, going down there to deliver a result.
Continue reading...Caluori, Fisilau, Janse van Rensburg, Sela, Kloska selected
Fin Smith says he had to ‘fake’ confidence after Lions tour
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.
Continue reading...Attention switches to England’s tour squad announcement as the Northampton and Exeter players patch up and press on
Of all the celebratory snapshots of Northampton’s Prem final triumph, perhaps the best was the morning-after picture of Henry Pollock and Fin Smith in bed with the trophy accompanied by backing vocals from Frank Sinatra. “That’s life, that’s what all the people say. You’re riding high in April, shot down in May. But I know I’m going to change that tune, when I’m back on top, back on top in June …”
Talk about suitably perfect lyrics. Saints may have finished top of the regular-season table but when they were being smashed 41-17 at Leicester on 9 May they looked far from dead certs to collect a second title in three years. To have claimed it on the occasion of their captain, George Furbank, making his final Saints appearance made it all the sweeter for Pollock, Smith and all his other close compadres.
Continue reading...France XV 35-19 England XV
South Africa-born back came on in 52nd minute
Benhard Janse van Rensburg’s hopes of a try-scoring England debut were dashed by fumbling hands as France emerged conclusive 35-19 winners in their non-cap international in Vannes.
South Africa-born Janse van Rensburg was brought on in the 52nd minute and shortly after he was presented with a routine run-in, only for the ball to slip from his hands. The opportunity was England’s last chance to start reeling in a 28-12 deficit and otherwise the Bristol centre’s involvement was limited.
Continue reading...Northampton scrum-half reflects on his lifelong international ambitions, playing with freedom and his club’s Prem semi-final against Leicester
Plenty of aspiring young players will relate to how Archie McParland once felt. Northampton’s fast-emerging scrum-half, on the verge of a full England debut this summer, possessed the requisite talent but not always the freedom of expression to maximise it. Perfectionists can often be like that, so averse to making the slightest mistake they end up holding themselves back.
Eventually there was a choice to be made: abandon all inner doubt and trust in his ability or stay frustratingly trapped in never never land. The turning point for McParland arrived just after Christmas in Bath when he starred for Saints in a pivotal league fixture at the Recreation Ground having been specifically encouraged by his coaches to follow his gut instinct. “That was the moment,” he says now. “I’d been training well but struggling to put it on to the pitch. In that game we felt quite free to play our game and it all worked out. Since then I’ve been able to show my game more and more.”
In what has been an eye-catching personal season for the 21-year-old there was another prime example at Bath in the sixth minute of the Champions Cup quarter-final in April. Clean off-the-top ball, a deft lob by Rory Hutchinson, a glorious one-handed flick on by McParland to Fin Smith and great support from Tommy Freeman and Fraser Dingwall made for the slickest of first-phase strike plays. Saints lost a thrilling contest 43-41 but for a while their attacking game was untouchable.
Continue reading...Captain to miss Nations Championship barring injuries
Feyi-Waboso could recover in time for tour after surgery
The chances of Maro Itoje touring with England this summer continue to diminish after the national captain was left out of Steve Borthwick’s latest June training squad. It is understood England would ideally like to give Itoje a rest barring a sudden rush of injuries which affects the number of other second row candidates available to Borthwick.
Despite his club Saracens having failed to make the Prem play-offs, Itoje is not among the 26 players gathered in Bagshot to prepare for a fixture between an England XV and a France XV in Vannes on Friday week. Other senior players including Jamie George, Ben Earl and Tom Curry are involved, however, alongside uncapped hopefuls such as Gloucester’s Afolabi Fasogbon and Ben Redshaw and the Bristol centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg.
Continue reading...‘I’ll make decisions when time comes,’ says head coach
Chessum expected to lead side in at least one July Test
England’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, has confirmed he may rest some senior players including his captain, Maro Itoje, for all or part of his squad’s summer Nations Championship games. A final decision will not be taken until next month but, barring an injury crisis, it seems probable England will be under fresh leadership on the field for at least one of their July Tests.
Rather than a traditional tour to a single country, the new tournament will require Borthwick and his squad to play internationals on three different continents on successive weekends, starting against South Africa in Johannesburg on 4 July and finishing in Santiago del Estero in Argentina on 18 July.
Continue reading...Benhard Janse van Rensburg in 42-man training squad
England consider resting Itoje and other senior players
England have called up the former South African U20 centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg to train with the national squad ahead of this summer’s inaugural Nations Championship. The Bristol Bears midfielder has been picked ahead of the omitted Bath pair Ollie Lawrence and Max Ojomoh despite not being officially available for England until 8 July.
Janse van Rensburg will become eligible on residency grounds on the grounds he has been in the UK for five years since joining his former club London Irish. This means he will not be available for England’s Test against the Springboks on 4 July but could potentially make a full debut against Fiji at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium the following weekend.
The 29-year-old, may also feature in a non-cap game against a France XV in Vannes on 19 June, assuming he makes a good impression in training. He did not have the best of nights in Northampton last Friday when Bristol suffered a record 94-33 defeat and were repeatedly cut apart by a rampant Saints backline.
The Rugby Football Union had to make a special appeal to World Rugby for dispensation to consider Janse van Rensburg, who played 21 minutes as a late replacement for South Africa’s U20 side back in 2016. This made him technically ineligible to qualify for England on residency grounds, until the RFU successfully argued that it was unfair for that brief appearance to bind him to South Africa in perpetuity.
Borthwick is clearly seeking fresh ways to inject momentum into his squad following the team’s fifth-placed finish in the Six Nations which saw England lose four of their five games. There are also call-ups for the impressive young Northampton scrum-half Archie McParland and Saracens’ fast-rising No9 Charlie Bracken, along with a recall for the rapid Leicester wing Adam Radwan.
Radwan has nipped in ahead of the unfortunate Arundell with Saracens’ Noah Caluori also included in a 42-man squad. Up front there are call-ups for the uncapped Bath front-row duo of Vilikesa Sela and Kepu Tuipulotu, prominent members of England’s U20 side who are now pushing for senior recognition. There may well be opportunities this summer with Borthwick understood to be considering resting some of his senior pros including the captain Maro Itoje for some or all of England’s July games.