Four talking points as England resist wholesale change versus Japan

Steve Borthwick has resisted the temptation to go for broke with the England team he has named to host Japan in Sunday’s final match of their Autumn Nations Series. Usually there is one November match where the leading Six Nations teams roll the dice and massively change up their XV.

Think Ireland, who have made seven changes to their line-up to take on Fiji this Saturday, or Scotland last weekend when they rung 14 for the visit Portugal. England’s situation, though, is far too precarious for Borthwick to similarly change it up.

Five defeats in a row have concentrated his mind, so when it came to declaring his hand on Friday afternoon to host the Japanese this Sunday at Allianz Stadium, there were just two alterations to the English head coach’s starting line-up. Here are the RugbyPass England team announcement talking points:

10 ever-present starters

In different circumstances, Borthwick would surely have been inclined to mix-up his starting XV for this series-ending fixture at Twickenham against his and England’s former boss, Eddie Jones.

The pre-series expectation was that England would come into November match day four with a couple of confidence-boosting wins in the bank and would spread the caps around to show Jones how far they have progressed their squad depth since his exit.

Instead, with even a single win proving elusive so far, Borthwick is on tenterhooks despite his claim last weekend that he believes he retains the full support of the RFU. Despite his contract through to the 2027 Rugby World Cup and all the signals being that his paymasters are still on his side, his credibility simply can’t afford the damage that losing to Jones would do.

Japan aren’t much of a threat. They have struggled to motor under their Australian boss, finishing second in the Pacific Nations Cup in September some months after the touring England comfortably picked them off 52-17 in Tokyo.

However, with the English having stacked up five consecutive losses since that fixture in the Far East, Borthwick isn’t taking any chances even though they are expected to end their winless run without a major scare.

At a time when we hear so much about player welfare and all the rest, the reality is that Borthwick has opted to stick with a core group throughout this series and 10 will have started all four matches when the action gets going on Sunday.

A half-dozen forwards – Ben Earl, Ellis Genge, skipper Jamie George, Maro Itoje, George Martin and Will Stuart – have been ever-present along with four backs – Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade and Marcus Smith.

Having 10 ever-presents underlines how difficult it is to get an England start under Borthwick, and two more selection favourites have been restored to this weekend’s starting XV with George Furbank and Tom Curry in for the dropped Freddie Steward and the benched Chandler Cunningham-South.

Furbank was the sacrifice with Borthwick trying to repeat the England World Cup 2023 semi-final performance against the Springboks, but the head coach’s selection of Steward didn’t pay off as the full-back was defensively exposed.

Curry, meanwhile, has been pencilled in for a start 15 days after he was knocked out cold versus Australia on November 9, his second concussion since the start of this season. His return highlights his importance to Borthwick’s cause, especially in and around the breakdown.

CCS as sub

Cunningham-South can consider himself unlucky not to be the 11th ever-present England starter this month. His accelerated growth in the jersey continued to impress and this weekend’s reality is that it has taken the availability of two 2019 Rugby World Cup final starters to force him down to the bench.

It’s a rare enough occurrence for England to have both Curry and Sam Underhill available for selection at the same time. At the start of November, Borthwick sided with Curry to start at openside versus the All Blacks and the Wallabies and exclude Underhill to allow Cunningham-South wear the No6 shirt.

That decision obviously perplexed Underhill as he was excellent last weekend against the Springboks when he took over the No7 role from the concussed Curry.

However, with Curry fit and well once more, England were faced with a three-into-two doesn’t go equation and Borthwick has opted to go with the so-called ‘Kamikaze twins’ and place Cunningham-South in reserve.

That puts an end to Cunningham-South’s run of six successive Test starts, but his naming as a replacement should add energy to a bench that has struggled to deliver the required intensity this month.

The No20 jersey isn’t unfamiliar to the 21-year-old. It was initially how he worked his way into Borthwick’s selection earlier this year, delivering four decent efforts as a sub in the Guinness Six Nations. He will be looked upon to now deliver likewise having nudged Alex Dombrandt out of this week’s replacements.

The Asher debut

RugbyPass are certainly fans of Mark Mapletoft and the way he gets the best out of young talent. His 2024 campaign in charge of the double-winning England U20s was exceptional, and he did his reputation no harm by following that success by head coaching England A to their generous win last Sunday over Australia A.

A consequence of all that is the inclusion on Borthwick’s bench of Asher Opoku-Fordjour for his Test debut. The modest, likeable prop has been leaping past all obstacles put in his way, breaking through into the Sale first team at tighthead and then starring at loosehead with Mapletoft’s U20s.

The potency of the age-grade team’s scrum was a thing of beauty in South Africa and while Mapletoft persisted with Opoku-Fordjour at loosehead last weekend at The Stoop, it’s at tighthead where the 20-year-old is set for his Test rugby bow.

Dan Cole has given tremendous service to England and his return to prominence was one of the heart-warming stories of last year’s World Cup in France.

However, time waits for no man and with the English scrum having suffered in the recent second periods of matches with the subs on, it’s a shrewd move by Borthwick to exclude his massively experienced 37-year-old and instead audition a rookie who has a glowing reputation. It’s an exciting development.

Fin finally overtakes Ford

It’s been quite the show of patience this month from Fin Smith in sucking up his situation on the England fringe. Having played bench back-up to Marcus Smith on the three-match summer tour, including the two-Test series in New Zealand, he was surplus to requirement this November.

With George Ford named as sub against the All Blacks, the Wallabies and the Springboks, Smith was left to assist with the match day warm-ups, holding the tackle bags etc at Twickenham before then enduring a lung-bursting running exercise on the pitch with the chosen 23 having headed into the dressing room to complete their pre-game prep.

Borthwick would make a point every time in seeking out Smith and the four other 'extras' who assisted the warm-up for a handshake to thank them for their time, and that commitment has now been rewarded as Smith has been included on the bench with Ford left out.

It’s been a complicated month for Borthwick with Ford. The sub out-half would have been a match-winner against the All Blacks had he not missed two late kicks, but his cameo was heavily criticised for defensive errors and he was again in the mud when appearing against Australia.

Last weekend Ford was left to stew unused on the bench versus South Africa, a terrible reflection on the Borthwick flex that Test rugby is a 23-man game. The head coach has now decided that Smith is this Sunday’s reserve 10 and it will be a belated Twickenham debut for the youngster as he was unused as a sub in February versus Wales. Hopefully, his wait will be worth it for the home fans.