Of all the buzzwords on which Steve Borthwick likes to lean, the concept of cohesion is one that the England head coach returns to more than just about any other. The idea of close connections and well-grooved combinations has been a theme of his tenure on and off the field, encouraging his squad to build links away from the pitch while placing great emphasis on continuity in selection on it.
The England boss looks enviously at a nation like Ireland, who can draw much of their 23 from a single side in Leinster. “There’s no doubt when you’re trying to build a team, building relationships and how often people play together is important,” Borthwick said after the opening round Six Nations defeat in Dublin. “You contrast us with Ireland and how often they play together. With Leinster, you see the model they’ve gone with, that consistency. It's certainly beneficial in the international environment to have players who've played together a number of times.”
It is an advantage also enjoyed, to some extent, by the rest of the United Rugby Championship nations. Italy are building around Benetton; Scotland increasingly a Glaswegian group; Wales a Cardiff core. In international rugby, preparation time pre-campaign is tight – both Borthwick and Eddie Jones before him have blamed England’s slow starts to Six Nations on the fact that they must bring together a squad drawn from a broader pool of clubs than some of their rivals. Eight Premiership sides were represented in Borthwick’s starting XV to play Ireland.
There are multiple ways to mitigate against these challenges. One is to trust in combinations, as Borthwick has done with Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence in the centres. The other is to build around a spine drawn from a single side. The success of France, who face similar issues in bringing together a group drawn more broadly, has come about partly due to the excellence of their Toulouse vertebrae, with Fabien Galthie increasingly installing a gameplan that closely resembles the one employed by Antoine Dupont and co. at club level.
It is a strategy that England have used successfully before. The 2003 World Cup-winning side was assembled on the power, prowess and principles of Leicester, then dominant domestically. Jones’s 2019 tournament finalists, meanwhile, were in a large part constructed around the model and mentality of Saracens.
The trouble for Borthwick is that the Premiership is not set up for dynastic success. Perhaps more entertaining than ever, the English top flight’s tight salary cap and other factors ensure competitive balance, creating a compelling product but no longer, perhaps, the sort of superior side that can be the bedrock of a successful international team. Saracens were the last – but only by bending and breaking financial rules to maintain their predominance.
Concerns grew at Leicester when Borthwick led them to a Premiership title a couple of seasons ago that a young group that had grown together would eventually have to be broken up as each came up for contract renewal and, rightly, commanded more. Market forces have, in fact, allowed Tigers to keep all of Freddie Steward, Jack van Poortvliet, George Martin, Ollie Chessum and others – but something has to give. The club are thought to be scrambling to find a new playmaker with Handre Pollard seemingly bound for Japan; hooker Julian Montoya also appears likely to depart.
A couple of junctions down the M1, though, is a group in which Borthwick is increasingly placing huge faith. Even with George Furbank injured, four of England’s backline starters in the win over France call Northampton their home. Saints centre Fraser Dingwall might be next man up if injury befell either Slade or Lawrence; George Hendy, player of the match in the Premiership final win last season, is in the England A squad to face Ireland in Bristol next Sunday. It is not inconceivable that England could in the near future select a backline entirely formed of Saints.
“We are all very aligned with how we see the game,” fly half Fin Smith explains. “I have played 50-odd games with Alex Mitchell now, spent a lot of time talking to him about how we see the game and the way we think it should be played.
“Particularly last weekend, in the last 25 minutes when the pressure was on and we had to make some fairly big game management decisions, having him out there with me made a massive difference and took a bit of weight off my shoulders. The wingers, it's great, I know what I'm going to get from both of them. Having that familiarity around me made me settle in slightly easier, rather than having to worry about what those guys are going to do. Knowing them like the back of my hand definitely makes my job a little bit easier.”
Northampton have struggled to hit the consistent heights they achieved last season on their way to the title in this campaign, but their attacking game is still the envy of many other clubs. Head coach Sam Vesty is one of the most highly-rated offensive minds in the sport, drilling catch-and-pass skills relentlessly to get the best out of his backline. Smith and others have brought some of his ideas into England camp; the “slide” move employed in Elliot Daly’s match-winning try against France is a play most use, but one which Northampton have nonetheless mastered over the last two seasons.
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“You don't speak less but you don't waste communication,” Sleightholme explains of how the existing connections help on the pitch. “You have a lot more time to really use clear information, which can give you better outcomes. Sometimes, when you don't know the players as well or what's going on as well around you, it can become quite frantic.
“We really work hard on understanding each other in this environment and understanding the communication we need to get a certain outcome.”
The Northampton academy continues to produce a number of top talents, with openside flanker Henry Pollock a star of the future who is not far away from full international honours while still U20 eligible, and their U18s winning the Premiership academy league on Sunday. But the jewel in their crown may prove to be one picked up from elsewhere. After the sad demise of Worcester, Smith was quickly lured to Franklin’s Gardens; such was the confidence that the club had in the 20-year-old that they were prepared to let Dan Biggar leave for Toulon within a month of his arrival.
“He came in and he really took the bull by the horns,” Sleightholme remembers. “He came in with a really good confidence of how to run and demand stuff from people.
“Obviously, everyone thought at the time that it was going to be a big loss with Biggs going but he stepped in and did his thing. He's very cool-headed on the pitch. He knows the game really well and understands it really well - which is obviously what you want from your 10.”
