Steve Borthwick has been boosted by the surprise return to fitness of Alex Mitchell for Saturday’s game with Italy and conducted England’s biggest Six Nations overhaul in 12 years by naming five uncapped players in his matchday squad.
However, the Harlequins fly-half, Marcus Smith – who sustained a calf injury at the start of the week – has been sent home and already been ruled out of the match against Wales as well. “He’ll go back to England and have further investigations,” the head coach said.
“He won’t be available next week. We’re not sure exactly when but we expect it to be a number of weeks. Hopefully, he will play in the later part of the Six Nations. We’ll know more next week.”
Italy: Tommaso Allan; Ange Capuozzo, Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Alessandro Garbisi; Lorenzo Cannone, Michele Lamaro, Sebastian Negri, Federico Ruzza, Niccolò Cannone, Pietro Ceccarelli, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Danilo Fischetti. Replacements: Giacomo Nicotera, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosue Zilocchi, Andrea Zambonin, Edoardo Iachizzi, Manuel Zuliani, Stephen Varney, Lorenzo Pani.
England: Freddie Steward, Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Fraser Dingwall, Elliot Daly; George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Joe Marler, Jamie George (capt.), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum, Ethan Roots, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl. Replacements: Theo Dan, Ellis Genge, Dan Cole, Alex Coles, Chandler Cunningham-South, Danny Care, Fin Smith, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Borthwick has named the Northampton centre Fraser Dingwall and the New Zealand-born Ethan Roots in his starting lineup while Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Fin Smith and Chandler Cunningham-South have been named on the bench. All five are eligible for other nations but will all be captured by England provided they take the field.
Mitchell was expected to drop out of the side having missed training on Monday and Tuesday due to an infected wound on his leg. On Thursday he came through England’s training session, however, and he has been passed fit to take his place at scrum‑half .
“Alex did individual training yesterday, the team didn’t train – he did – and he has trained fully with the team today,” said Borthwick. “[Alex] is a player who played a lot of minutes for us during the World Cup and a lot of time for his club, so I see a guy who is match-sharp and ready to go.”
According to the rugby statistician Russ Petty, five new England caps would be the most handed out in a Six Nations match since Stuart Lancaster selected seven debutants for his first match in charge in 2012 against Scotland. Borthwick said that he had not planned such an overhaul but with injuries taking hold, Owen Farrell making himself unavailable, Courtney Lawes and Jonny May retiring and a number of players moving to France’s Top 14, he has turned to new blood.
Dingwall has been in nine England squads without winning a cap but Roots, who represented the Māori All Blacks in 2020, is in his first season in the Premiership with Exeter, while Feyi-Waboso and Fin Smith are both 21 and Cunningham-South, who was born in Sidcup but raised in New Zealand, just 20. In contrast, the captain, Jamie George, the vice-captains, Maro Itoje and Ellis Genge, and George Ford, Joe Marler and Danny Care contribute almost 500 caps [494] between them.
“There are five new caps in the team and each one of those guys has earned his place. Each one of them is an exciting young player,” said Borthwick. “I didn’t think I’d be naming a 23 with five debutants but it is certainly a talented group of players I want to bring together, a talented group to come on to the pitch and start their international journeys. For me, that’s a great sign for English rugby going forward.”
Roots’s rise to the England team is meteoric given he was working on a building site and dreaming of becoming a MMA fighter just a few years ago. “This is a guy who has joined the Crusaders and joined the Ospreys and moved on from there and joined Exeter,” Borthwick said. “This is a determined man. I have been really impressed by his physicality, his energy, his work rate. But also his maturity. The way he has stepped into this environment has been seamless.”
His Exeter teammate Feyi-Waboso was turning out for Taunton Titans less than 12 months ago. “He’s got incredible ability,” said Borthwick. “Now we know a little bit more about him, having been in the camp the last week or so, his speed and power profiles are excellent. Really top-class. He has that innate natural ability that we want to harness in the way we play, bring his speed and power into the game.”
Mitchell’s availability is a considerable bonus for England, whose week was significantly disrupted by injury. It is understood Marcus Smith had been slated to start at fly-half before going down with a calf injury on Monday and it is believed Fin Smith was temporarily in pole position for the No 10 jersey but with questions over Mitchell, his Northampton half-back partner, Borthwick ultimately opted for Ford. “[Fly-half] is one of the positions that’s incredibly competitive,” he said.
“We had three players, although Marcus had his injury this week, who were all competing and all very talented players. Particularly around Fin, this is a guy who I believe is made for the Test match environment with his composure and his toughness. I have no doubt when he comes on to make his debut he will do tremendously well.”
