The indications from England camp are that Steve Borthwick will stick with a settled side this autumn, but at least one significant selection decision must be made. It is a mark of Alex Mitchell’s improvement as a player that a man fourth in the pecking order at the initial naming of the World Cup squad last August is now indisputably England’s first-choice number nine when fit.
But with the prognosis uncertain on his neck injury, Mitchell appears set to miss the four November Tests, leaving a sizeable hole. The Northampton man has fulfilled the starting brief in fine fashion over the last 12 months, marrying a sharpness of pass with real shrewdness and maturity. It is perhaps no coincidence that England’s worst performance of 2024 came with Mitchell unavailable against Scotland at Murrayfield.
While Ben Youngs and Danny Care are now enjoying the comforts of international retirement, the scrum-half cupboard is far from bare. Jostling for places in the pecking order are three players of different strengths, each emblematic of the club for which they play, and all very much in contention to feature in the opening Autumn Nations Series fixture against the All Blacks.
“It’s a good battle,” said Richard Wigglesworth, himself a former scrum half, as the England attack coach assessed Ben Spencer, Jack van Poortvliet and Harry Randall. “They are three different nines but good players in their own right who have become very important at their clubs.
“The pace that Rands [Randall] brings, in terms of the way he buzzes around and the speed of ball he gets. Ben, how he’s led that Bath team and what he’s produced for them.
“And then JVP has started this season as out and out number one [for Leicester] and taken control of Leicester’s improved start to the season. We’ve got a selection headache at nine which is a good one to have.”
The trio spread along the scrum-half spectrum. At one end, the zippy Randall seldom kicks for Bristol as part of the Bears’ high-octane style. At the other, Spencer is probably the best conductor in the Premiership, leading Bath to within a whisker of the title last season with a steady hand at the tiller. Van Poortvliet sits somewhere between the two and has regained the sharpness he lacked at times last season after that serious ankle injury.
Working in Randall’s favour, perhaps, is England’s desire for rapid ball. An attack predicated on pace relies on swift transfer away from the ruck. Borthwick’s staff and analysts review every attacking breakdown and record the “speed of release” – how quickly their scrum halves play once the ball is clearly available. It is an area of the game in which Spencer has been challenged to improve. The Bath captain has many strengths but can be prone to ponder at times at the base of a ruck.
“They’re different and there will be some tactical implications there, but if you’re going to play nine for England you need to get the ball away fast,” Wigglesworth stressed. “You’re going to have to play quick. Ben has improved that area. It’s something we spoke to [Bath attack coach] Lee Blackett about and they’re on the same thing.”
The 32-year-old Spencer has had a curious England career. After usurping the similarly-skilled Wigglesworth as Saracens’ primary scrum half, he earned four caps in 2018 and 2019, but missed out on the selection for the World Cup in Japan. Injury to Willi Heinz forced Spencer to scramble out in the week of the World Cup final to appear off the bench against the Springboks, before again being discarded by Eddie Jones.
Suggestions that he was merely a product of the Saracens winning machine and could take on more responsibility have been emphatically refuted since switching to Bath, with irresistible form prompting a recall ahead of this year’s Six Nations. But even since then, a peculiar career has continued – two somewhat lacklustre cameos against Scotland and in the first Test in New Zealand were followed by 80 minutes on the pine as an unused substitute at Eden Park.
If that had as much to do with Mitchell’s importance, it also perhaps showed the challenge facing Spencer. While he is a relatively regular 80-minute man for his club, he is perhaps not best suited to a bench role. This therefore feels like a vital opportunity for Spencer to finally come of age internationally and seize the starting shirt.
“He isn’t one of those players who played a massive amount,” Wigglesworth explained. “So he’s young in rugby terms for that. He’s gone to Bath and become a captain and a senior player with more responsibility, playing in a good team in which he’s a focal point.
“You’re only going to grow in that sort of place and that’s what he’s done. He has big moments in games and puts his stamp on his team. I’ve seen that growth with him, because of the leadership he’s had to show at his club.”
