Owen Farrell has been left out of Steve Borthwick’s first England training squad of the new season despite his return to international rugby with the British and Irish Lions this summer.
The former England captain had stepped away from international rugby following the 2023 World Cup to focus on his mental health. He subsequently agreed a move to French side Racing 92, which made him ineligible for England selection.
However, Farrell, who turns 34 in two weeks, made a dramatic return to English rugby by re-signing for Saracens in June followed by his surprise selection to join the Lions touring party as an injury replacement for Elliot Daly.
Farrell made clear that he had not shut the door on adding to his 112 England caps, but Borthwick has not included him in a 36-man squad that will meet at Pennyhill Park on Monday for a three-day training camp ahead of the Autumn Nations Series.
Captain Maro Itoje, who suffered a concussion in the Lions’ third-Test defeat by Australia, is listed under rehabilitation alongside Daly, Tom Curry, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Will Stuart.
England are relaxed about Itoje’s fitness and all of England’s Lions contingent will receive a mandated 10-week rest period, ensuring they will miss the first two rounds of the Premiership, unless a special exemption is made.
Farrell, for example, is in line to make his second Saracens debut in their opening match against Newcastle Red Bulls on September 26. Asked last week if he had aspirations of returning to England duty, Farrell told Sky Sports: “Well I’m going to get myself back to playing hopefully well for Saracens and enjoy myself and see where we’re at.
“I’ve only been back in a week or so. We had a good break after the Lions tour, some of the lads are still away, like Jamie [George] and Ben [Earl], who are here today. We had a good week with Saracens last week in South Africa, a bit of a pre-season trip and then we’ll build it up for the first game against Newcastle, which should be a cracker.”
There are few surprises in Borthwick’s squad, although there is no place for Sale full-back Joe Carpenter, Bristol hooker Gabriel Oghre, Bath centre Max Ojomoh or Harlequins No 8 Alex Dombrandt, who all appeared on the summer tour of Argentina and the United States.
England’s 36-player squad
Forwards
- Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
- Jamie Blamire (Leicester Tigers)
- Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
- Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
- Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
- Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
- Ben Curry (Sale Sharks)
- Ben Earl (Saracens)
- Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)
- Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
- Jamie George (Saracens)
- Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
- Ted Hill (Bath Rugby)
- Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
- Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby)
- Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
- Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks)
- Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)
- Tom Willis (Saracens)
Backs
- Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)
- Oscar Beard (Harlequins)
- Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
- George Ford (Sale Sharks)
- Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
- George Furbank (Northampton Saints)
- Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby)
- Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
- Will Muir (Bath Rugby)
- Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
- Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
- Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
- Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
- Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
- Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
- Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
- Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)
Rehabilitation
- Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
- Elliot Daly (Saracens)
- Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs)
- Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
- Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Not considered for selection
- Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby)
- Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints)
- George Martin (Leicester Tigers)
- Luke Northmore (Harlequins)
- Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
World Cup selection migraine for Borthwick
In approximately two years’ time, Steve Borthwick will name his squad for the World Cup in Australia and the England head coach is going to need every single one of those million odd minutes to configure his back-row permutations.
The latest training squad announcement reveals England’s staggering depth in this area. With a little bit of positional manipulation you could conceivably select three different back row combinations that all look tastier than the contents of a polystyrene tray to someone leaving a pub at 1am on a Saturday night.
Option 1: Ted Hill, Ben Curry, Henry Pollock
Option 2: Chandler Cunningham-South, Guy Pepper, Tom Willis
Option 3: Ollie Chessum, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl
Yum. Yum. Yum. Then you can add in Tom Curry, one of the Lions’ standout performers in the Test series against Australia and - pending a return to Prem Rugby - Jack Willis, arguably the best back row in all of European club rugby last season. This is even before we get to a number of exceptional domestic performers such as Jack Kenningham, Will Evans or Fitz Harding, who have yet to receive a look-in, and not discounting another Pollock style rise from the Under-20s golden generation.
No wonder, as my colleague Charles Richardson reported this summer, that Borthwick is contemplating a 7-1 bench to accommodate his embarrassment of riches. Yet come the World Cup, some outstanding players are going to have their noses pressed up against the glass. At the last tournament, Borthwick only selected six back rows, although Courtney Lawes was listed as a lock.
By contrast, England’s stocks at second row are comparatively skinny. Chessum, who is equally comfortable at blindside, Charlie Ewels and Alex Coles are the three second rows in this current training squad with Maro Itoje listed in the rehabilitation crew and George Martin and Arthur Clark not considered for selection. Should anything happen to Itoje, who has played more than 30 games two seasons running, then England would be in serious strife.
The team will evolve between now and the World Cup. On England’s last tour to Argentina in 2017 unearthed Tom Curry, Sam Underhill and Mark Wilson who would all subsequently play in the 2019 World Cup final with James Haskell, Chris Robshaw. Tom Wood and Nathan Hughes being gradually eased out by Eddie Jones.
This time there are no obvious candidates to be slowly phased out. Tom Willis and Sam Underhill were standout performers in Argentina while Guy Pepper wowed the coaching staff with his performances. Meanwhile, Chessum, Pollock, Earl and, when he recovers from his injury, Tom Curry come into the fray better players from their experience on the Lions tour.
Even accounting for the store that Borthwick puts in cohesion, continuity and combinations, it feels like there’s a gnat’s hair between eight or nine players. This makes the start of the Prem Rugby season so intriguing.
In the back-row bunfight, early season form is going to be crucial. Some key early season markers include Harlequins v Bath in round one, Bath v Sale in round two and Saracens v Sale in round four. Who is going to put their hand up? Who is going to separate themselves from the most congested of packs?
It will make for appointment viewing for most fans but figures to provide a blistering migraine for Borthwick.
