Time for Borthwick to ignore the easy options

THE main challenge facing Steve Borthwick this summer is to maintain England's momentum by winning a two-Test tour of Argentina with 13 of his leading players on Lions duty.

- NICK CAIN

The question raised by the inclusion of 14 mainly young uncapped players by the Red Rose head coach in a 33-man training squad announced this week in preparation for the tour is just how many of them are already — or will become — international calibre.

As Borthwick musters his resources the concern is that the conversion rate of England U20 players to senior international level has been nothing to shout about over the last decade, despite the rapid rise of exceptions like Henry Pollock, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, and Afolabi Fasogbon from last year’s England World U20 champion team.

The majority of their U20 team-mates unfortunately remain sat on Premiership benches until they are pancake-flat with lack of game time, or have been shunted about on loan schemes for half a dozen games to clubs in the Championship down to National 2, which keeps them in the limbo-land of not truly belonging anywhere.

The other factor which looms large is that Argentina’s last home game in the 2024 Rugby Championship saw them beat the world champion South Africans 29-28 in Santiago Del Estero — not long after they had hammered Australia 67-27 in Santa Fe.

The Pumas have developed an all-court game which makes them capable of inflicting at 2-0 series setback to England on South American turf, and stalling their progress, unless Borthwick and his coaching team are at the top of their game in the selection and preparation of their depleted squad.

There will, of course, be unbridled enthusiasm from the likes of back rowers Richard Capstick (Exeter) and Emeka Ilione (Leicester), Bristol hooker Gabriel Oghre, Gloucester lock Arthur Clark and fly-half Charlie Atkinson, Sale centre Rekeiti Maasi-White, and Saracens wing Tobias Elliott, that they remain on England’s wider radar — albeit two to six years after being capped at U20 level.