Four big calls Borthwick could make to revive England

After head coach Steve Borthwick overhauled his England team for the Italy game and the losing run continued, he faces a difficult selection for the Six Nations finale against France.

“After head coach Steve Borthwick revamped his England team to face Italy and found that their losing streak stubbornly rolled on regardless, he faces a difficult selection for the Six Nations finale against France”

BBC

One option is to bring Marcus Smith back to 10.

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The 27-year-old started eight successive matches at fly-half between summer 2024 and the second round of last year's Six Nations but has not been selected there since, instead being used at full-back or as a utility bench option.

Smith claimed seven try assists in 2024 and was directly involved in 13% of England's tries that year; he is praised for his running, an underrated kicking game, brave tackling and a successful cameo on England's most recent visit to France when he replaced George Furbank and scored in the 33-31 defeat.

Harlequins' poor form this season has complicated his case, but his past partnerships with Andre Esterhuizen and the potential pairing with Seb Atkinson at 12 are cited as reasons to consider him.

A second call is to add more back-row ball-carrying power.

England lacked ball-carrying balance in the defeat by Italy where Ben Earl had 20 carries, Jamie George 10 and no other forward reached double figures.

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With Tom Willis out of the England picture because of his impending move to Bordeaux-Begles, Borthwick could introduce heavier carriers such as Ollie Chessum and Chandler Cunningham-South, who would also offer a third line-out option.

The argument is that sharing the carrying burden could allow Earl to drift wider into more dangerous areas.

The article notes France have a wider arsenal of high-class carriers — mentioning their second-row pairing Charles Ollivon and Mickael Guillard — and that England have the personnel to emulate that physicality.

A third suggestion is to rest captain Maro Itoje.

“After head coach Steve Borthwick revamped his England team to face Italy and found that their losing streak stubbornly rolled on regardless, he faces a difficult selection for the Six Nations finale against France”

BBC

Itoje played every minute of 30 consecutive England Six Nations matches from the start of 2020 but has been less consistent this year.

He was late to a pre-tournament training camp after returning to Nigeria for his mother’s funeral.

He started the opening win over Wales on the bench, was withdrawn early in the defeats by Scotland and Ireland, and missed part of the final quarter against Italy after receiving his second yellow card of the tournament.

Itoje has exceeded heavy workload thresholds, playing more than 30 games in each of the past two seasons and breaching the recommended 2,400 match minutes in 2023-24.

He has said that such a workload is probably not sustainable.

With England’s title hopes gone and Alex Coles’ development a rare positive, an enforced week off for Itoje and a leadership reshuffle are presented as viable options.

Those options recall Courtney Lawes' successful interim captaincy and note that Owen Farrell had resumed captain duties for the Wales win.

The fourth, and hardest, option is to overhaul the attacking gameplan.

Borthwick appointed Lee Blackett as attack coach full-time in September, saying 'Lee has been widely regarded as one of the country's top attack coaches,' and Blackett impressed on the summer tour of Argentina where England scored seven tries over two Tests.

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Blackett also led Bath to 96 regular-season tries in his final season there.

Despite inheriting a side that scored 25 tries in the 2025 Six Nations under Richard Wigglesworth, England have managed just 14 tries this campaign and have repeatedly underperformed in attack - averaging less than two points per 22m entry in recent defeats.

Players have voiced support for the current tactics, but the piece argues Blackett and Wigglesworth form an 'excellent brains trust' for Borthwick to consult if he decides a shift away from an aerial, territory-focused, low-risk approach is needed to unlock England's attacking potential.