It is a quirk of England’s November clean sweep that there were no debutants throughout an autumn campaign for the first time in 25 years but Max Ojomoh’s performance against Argentina when winning his second cap certainly felt like the arrival of the next big thing.
For Ojomoh was the star turn of England’s least convincing performance of the autumn, finishing off the first try before teeing up the other two. His assist for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, a delightful cross-field kick, was the champagne moment of the first half and his popped pass to Henry Slade for England’s third was equally eye-catching, rounding off a fine first outing at Twickenham for the 25-year-old.
It is just eight days since Steve Borthwick might have felt that he had finally unearthed his centre partnership for the future after Fraser Dingwall and Ollie Lawrence dovetailed superbly in the victory against the All Blacks. The best compliment that can be paid to Ojomoh is that Borthwick may have to think again. He was first called up to an England squad four years ago but had to wait until the final match of the summer tour against the USA to make his debut. It took injuries to Lawrence and Dingwall – whose withdrawal on Friday paved the way for Ojomoh to start – but he surely will be in contention for a third when England regroup to begin their Six Nations campaign in the new year.
Ojomoh possesses the kind of triple threat all coaches would want from their inside-centre. He can run, kick and pass, and he has appeared at fly-half and both centre positions for Bath this season. Where might England have been against Argentina without him? Certainly they rode their luck and perhaps it is no coincidence that he was their standout performer having spent most of the week expecting to miss out, for there was an inevitable drop-off in intensity on the back of a first Twickenham win against New Zealand in 13 years. Perhaps Borthwick ought to have freshened things up a bit more.
Indeed, it seemed significant that after opting to kick a 39th-minute penalty at goal – which George Ford missed – a more straightforward one was kicked to the corner a minute later. If nothing else, it was an attempt to bring some dynamism to a side struggling to move out of third gear.
Some perspective is needed, however. It is tempting to lambast England for their inability to inject much urgency into the match, to attempt to shut up shop before the first half was up, to criticise them for almost throwing away a game in which they were cruising in the first half. To wonder if the “grenades” that Eddie Jones used to bemoan – a metaphor for England’s inability to wrestle back momentum – might be going off again. To again question Henry Pollock’s post-match behaviour. Tom Curry’s too.
But this goes down in the ledger as a clean sweep of four autumn fixtures for the first time since 2016. The year ends with 11 straight wins after it began with defeat in Dublin. We are halfway through the World Cup cycle and things look considerably rosier for Borthwick than they did at this stage last year. He has used 53 players across 2025 and 32 in these four November victories. Rassie Erasmus is lauded for how he has rotated through his squad, all the while keeping the Springboks ahead of the chasing pack, and he put his total at 50 on Saturday, with one more fixture, against Wales next Saturday, to come this year.
Borthwick gives the impression that, two years out from the World Cup, he knows the vast majority of the squad that he will take with him to Australia. As they might say down under, Borthwick appears to be aware of what cattle he will have at his disposal. Of course, there will be the odd bolter. Noah Caluori will get the chance to showcase his extraordinary talents at some point in 2026, for example, but there are very few current members of the squad who are not on track for the 2027 tournament.
That is an advantage because it was a problem that his predecessor, Jones, struggled with when it became apparent that players such as Mike Brown, Dylan Hartley, Chris Robshaw and James Haskell were not going to feature in his plans for the 2019 World Cup. He did not grasp the situation as early as he should have and England endured a torrid first half of 2018 that almost cost him his job. It feels relevant because that is precisely the stage of the World Cup cycle that Borthwick now turns his attention to.
Depth charts sound like they belong to seafarers of yesteryear but coaches swear by them and Borthwick can be happy with his. For it is worth noting that Elliot Daly was the only back in the initial XV who also started in the thumping victory against Wales in March to round off the Six Nations. Borthwick likes to talk about the small margins and on another day England might be nursing their wounds after a gut-wrenching late defeat. That they were not owes plenty to Ojomoh, to luck and to the strength of England’s bench. But as Borthwick plots a course to the Six Nations, he has wind in England’s sails after 11 wins in a row and as a result we can forgive him the paucity of this performance.
