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steve borthwick considering freeing Henry Pollock During this time at number 8 England‘S autumn international After dropping Tom Willis from his team.
Willis Was omitted from Borthwick’s 36-player selection After agreeing a move to France from Saracens ahead of the autumn, and while he will remain eligible for international selection until the end of the season, the England boss has suggested the 26-year-old’s Test career is over for now.
The decision to leave the Prem came just months after Willis was rewarded by Borthwick with an upgraded Exclusive Player Team (EPS) deal worth more than £150,000 per year, money the No. 8 will still receive despite his impending departure.
Willis started England’s 2–0 Test series win over Argentina in July and three matches in their Six Nations campaign, and was likely to feature in the opening match of the Quilter Nations Series against Australia on 1 November.
in their place, ben earl It appears likely that he will be relegated to a role based on the scrum with which he is extremely familiar, but Borthwick is also keen to explore the potential that 20-year-old talent Pollock can offer.
The youngster made his England debut in the win over Wales at the end of the Six Nations and started twice in the number 8 shirt on the British & Irish Lions tour in the summer.
“The majority of games over the last two years have been started by Ben Earl at number 8,” Borthwick explained, while also name-checking Chandler Cunningham-South and Emeka Illion as possible options. “We all see Henry Pollock being strong at that position with his ball-carrying ability.
“The way we play, those positions are reasonably interchangeable, because they’re good rugby players and I want them around the ball in attack and defence. Whether I’m picking a number 8 and two sevens or a six and eight, it doesn’t really matter.
“Tom told me of his decision at the end of last week, rang me up and talked about some of the reasons why he has decided to play overseas in the future. That was a private conversation so I’m not going to go into those reasons but he knows how highly I rate him as a player and a person and I wished him well.
“I think he also understands why I have decided that we should invest all our time in the players who are going to be at the World Cup in two years’ time. Our aim is to win the World Cup for England, we want to win now and we want to win that World Cup in two years’ time.”
England also face Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina in an interesting November campaign, with Borthwick hoping to build on the progress made during both. An encouraging Six Nations and an impressive July tour.
The head coach has called up teenage phenom Noah Caluori to train with the team this week An extraordinary, five-try performance for Saracens against Sale, And revealed that the 19-year-old could also play a role in the next few weeks.
“He’s been on the radar for a long time,” Borthwick said of Caluori. “With those players, you want them to get opportunities for senior rugby. Obviously the work he’s done in preseason at Saracens and the start of the season he’s had there, and it’s a massive credit to Saracens, he’s got some experience.
“I think he can definitely feature this autumn. The wing is a position where we have a lot of depth and a lot of exciting talent and pace, which English rugby hasn’t had quite a while ago. You can see how the profile of the team has changed. We would have had a bigger forward pack and not out and out speed. Now you can see how much strength we have at outside back, half back. We have playmakers, how much mobility we have in our pack.”
The England squad will reconvene next week to prepare for the clash against Australia, with Tom Curry and Elliot Daly both in major doubt as they recover from wrist and hand injuries respectively.