Steve Borthwick is plotting an English raid on Paris and has called on his side to set their sights on clinching a first Six Nations title in six years in the French capital on Super Saturday.
England have not won the title since the Covid-hit championship in 2020 and last managed the grand slam in 2016 when Eddie Jones’s side clinched a fifth straight victory at the Stade de France.
Borthwick was in bullish mood after announcing a settled 36-man squad for the tournament, naming a pair of uncapped props in the 19-year-old Billy Sela and Emmanuel Iyogun amid injury problems in the front row, while Exeter’s 22-year-old flanker Greg Fisilau will hope to make his debut. The head coach also welcomes back George Furbank, who has struggled with calf and arm injuries recently and has not played for England since November 2024.
A clutch of players including Fin Smith, Ollie Lawrence, Fin Baxter, Tom Roebuck and Ben Curry will head to next week’s warm weather training camp in Girona for rehabilitation but it remains to be seen whether they will be fit to face Wales at Twickenham for England’s opener on 7 February.
Trips to Murrayfield and Rome follow, either side of the visit of Ireland to Twickenham, but despite England’s poor record in the tournament of late, Borthwick has told his players to put themselves on course for the title in Paris on the final weekend, calling on supporters to cross the Channel in their droves.
Saracens have announced Mark McCall will step down as director of rugby at the end of the season, with Brendan Venter to return for the 2026-27 campaign.
Following 15 seasons in the job, McCall will remain as technical adviser and join the board. The South African Venter will return to a position he first held in 2009, having then recruited McCall as first-team coach, before switching to a part-time role as technical adviser, with Saracens going on to success domestically and in Europe.
McCall said: "I am immensely proud of what we have achieved at Saracens and grateful for the opportunity to have led the rugby programme for so long.
"I feel the time is right for change, while still remaining deeply involved in the club I care so much about. I am really looking forward to supporting Brendan and contributing in a way that helps Saracens continue to move forward."
Saracens said the changes will provide a "sense of continuity and collaboration" as the club moves into its "next chapter".
Venter said: "I am incredibly proud to once again lead the rugby programme. Mark's continued involvement was key to me accepting the appointment." PA Media
“We met a couple of weeks ago and we talked about the Six Nations Championship. We know it’s tight, we know there’s lots of good teams in it,” said Borthwick. “We also know the last seven Six Nations Championships have gone down to the last round of fixtures and we talked about that as a team.
“On 14 March in Paris, we want to be in a position entering that game where we can achieve what we’re all aiming to achieve. That’s what we want. We want England fans flooding across the Channel to Paris to come and watch the team in a massive encounter in the final round with the opportunity to achieve what we want. We also know that the only way you get there is by ensuring each of you take each step one at a time and get our preparation right for the start of the tournament.”
Borthwick has also called on his players to relish the added expectation that comes with a winning run that dates back to last February. “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 added. “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. I think we’re nowhere near maxing out the potential.
“We have players in there with huge amounts of talent, and whilst we’re still reasonably low on experience at Test level, as they get used to Test rugby their growth is going to be enormous. I’m really pleased at how the players are embracing how we want to play, and taking the game on. I want them to attack this tournament, come in with a mindset to play brave and attack.”
Forwards: Ollie Chessum (Leicester , 30 caps), Arthur Clark (Gloucester, 1 cap), Alex Coles (Northampton, 14 caps), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale, 53 caps), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 20 caps), Tom Curry (Sale, 65 caps), Theo Dan (Saracens, 20 caps), Trevor Davison (Northampton, 3 caps), Ben Earl (Saracens, 46 caps), Greg Fisilau (Exeter, uncapped), Ellis Genge (Bristol, 75 caps), Jamie George (Saracens, 105 caps), Joe Heyes (Leicester, 17 caps), Maro Itoje (Saracens, 97 caps) – captain, Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton, uncapped), Guy Pepper (Bath, 7 caps), Henry Pollock (Northampton, 5 caps), Bevan Rodd (Sale, 10 caps), Vilikesa Sela (Bath, uncapped), Sam Underhill (Bath, 45 caps)
Backs: Henry Arundell (Bath, 11 caps), Seb Atkinson (Gloucester, 2 caps)
Elliot Daly (Saracens, 74 caps), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton, 7 caps), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter, 13 caps), George Ford (Sale, 105 caps), Tommy Freeman (Northampton, 22 caps), George Furbank (Northampton, 14 caps), Alex Mitchell (Northampton, 27 caps), Cadan Murley (Harlequins, 4 caps) , Max Ojomoh (Bath, 2 caps), Henry Slade (Exeter, 74 caps), Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 46 caps), Ben Spencer (Bath, 14 caps), Freddie Steward (Leicester, 41 caps), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester, 21 caps)
Sela’s inclusion in a training squad for the first time comes after injuries to Will Stuart and Asher Opoku-Fordjour. Trevor Davison, who has three caps, is also included as is his Northampton teammate Iyogun with doubts over Baxter’s availability in the early part of the tournament. Such injury disruption to the front row threatens to blunt the impact of Borthwick’s “Pom Squad”, used with such impressive effect during the autumn internationals.
Asked if he will have to tweak his strategy for replacements, Borthwick said: “Possibly. You deal with each of those situations on their own merits. We have also got plenty of depth in other positions and playing experience. That decision, I have talked at length about what we need to do in how there are so many Test matches that are within a score of each other in that final part of the game. So that’ll be a decision around the experienced front-row forwards.”
