Settled England ready for Six Nations, says Borthwick

Head coach names his 36-player squad for the annual series

- HARRY LATHAM-COYLE RUGBY CORRESPONDENT

The home dressing room at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium does not exactly resemble that which you might find down the local recreation ground, no faint fear of asbestos, rock-hard wooden benches or battered old boots to be found. There is, instead, plenty of room for activities, nutrition and treatment, with each player given a plush perch behind which sits a list of luminaries to have previously worn the shirt on their back for England’s men and women.

It was from one of these seats, just a short way along from the second row slots he would once have occupied, that England head coach Steve Borthwick delivered his Six Nations squad yesterday morning, the gathered press squashed around in front of him. It was as relaxed and jovial as Borthwick has been in the three-and-a-bit years he has occupied the role, as one might expect after a highly encouraging 2025 that England ended on an 11-match winning run.

But, Borthwick may have noted, as he scanned the names around him and as senior players have remarked in the last few months, there is a tangible success that still eludes England. It is the Six Nations where international reputations are really forged, and it is six years since they won the title - with a settled squad at his disposal, the time for a proper tilt is surely now.

His predecessor, Eddie Jones, was a master of performative underdoggery, but Borthwick met the idea of England as Six Nations contenders head-on. “I think the first thing I’d like to say about that is I think it is brilliant that people are talking in that way about this England team,” he said, open and honest about the ambition. “They can see the development of the team, and they can see the talent that’s in the team, and they can see the potential that’s in it.