A Six Nations grand slam, plus Nations Championship victories against South Africa and Fiji and England would head to Argentina next July having equalled their record run of 18 victories, in pursuit of a groundbreaking No 19. Sounds simple put like that, but there’s more chance of Steve Borthwick busting his best moves in England’s next viral TikTok video than him entertaining any thought of record runs.
That is not to criticise, because even though Borthwick is allergic to looking too far ahead, doing so would be to get drastically carried away. The point here is that the more England keep winning, and they will enter next year’s Six Nations as the team to beat after 11 on the trot, the more expectation increases.
We got a glimpse of it just before half-time against Argentina. England were 17-3 ahead having barely got out of second gear when George Ford opted to kick a penalty at goal. He missed it, and when presented with an easier shot a minute later, he was instructed to kick to the corner. It was Luke Cowan-Dickie who implored him to – the hooker scoring a disallowed try from the subsequent lineout – but it was apparently a decision based on the need to inject some urgency into England’s performance and to bring a sleepy Sunday crowd to life. In 2026, England will soon learn that 14-point leads against teams as dangerous as Argentina are not enough to engage their supporters if they are not playing with the intent they have shown they can.
Perhaps the nervous finale against the Pumas tempers expectation a touch, and makes clear that the gulf between England and the Springboks is still sizeable, although South Africa endured a similar finish against the Pumas in October. But England have not won a Six Nations title since the Covid-interrupted 2020 edition; it has been a while since they were even genuine contenders.
Borthwick doesn’t think in terms of expectations, or if he does he certainly doesn’t show it. At the halfway point of the World Cup cycle England are precisely where he’d want them to be, if not further ahead.
The greatest strides made have been in increasing depth – bringing Tom Curry off the bench with 20 minutes to go strikes fear into opponents, whereas, with the greatest respect, introducing Alex Dombrandt did not. Borthwick has used 53 players in 2025 but he did not hand out any debuts in November – the first time England have not done so since 2000 – demonstrating how important he considered this campaign to be in the side’s development.
The scrum has consistently improved this year and the importance of the summer tour of Argentina cannot be underestimated in fast-tracking the development of Joe Heyes, Fin Baxter and Asher Opoku-Fordjour. That in turn has allowed Borthwick to formulate his “Pom Squad” which has helped England close out matches they were all too often losing last year.
The decision to make Maro Itoje captain has paid off while the coaching chaos of 2024, when both Aled Walters and Felix Jones abandoned ship, has been consigned to history. Lee Blackett is a highly popular and talented attack coach and he has made his mark, as seen with the set-play for Fraser Dingwall’s try against the All Blacks. Byron McGuigan is a motivator and dovetails well with Richard Wigglesworth, whose move to defence coach has been seamless. Perhaps most importantly, Borthwick finally got his man in Phil Morrow, an experienced strength and conditioning coach, who joined as head of team performance before the Argentina tour.
There were no signs of post-British & Irish Lions tour fatigue this autumn – the decision to ease most back into the fray off the bench proving a masterstroke – and if Morrow can continue in the same vein in the Six Nations he will earn his crust.
There are challenges ahead. Dealing with the expectation is chief among them but so too is how England cope when they are not able to impose plan A on opponents for 80 minutes. They were rarely tested in that regard this autumn, but can expect to be during the Six Nations, with trips to Edinburgh and Paris coming after the opening visit of Wales.
after newsletter promotion
If Borthwick appears to know the vast majority of his World Cup squad already – barring the odd bolter – he has a job on his hands keeping everyone happy. He has repeatedly stressed the importance of the non-23 players this autumn, praising their attitude, but at the same time admitted the challenge of managing someone like Marcus Smith, whose role has been diminished over the last 12 months. Of his three fly-halves it is Fin Smith who finds himself out in the cold. To refer back to Borthwick’s coaching staff, it is Kevin Sinfield who takes on the pastoral role for the squad and his input in the coming year will be crucial.
In the coming days Borthwick plans to decompress before plotting England’s Six Nations campaign, starting with a warm-up camp in Girona. To look beyond that is to get ahead of ourselves but the July trip to Johannesburg to face the Springboks at Ellis Park already looks mouthwatering.
The 46-year-old does not like to put a label on England’s current standing in the global landscape but he gave one answer in the aftermath of Sunday’s victory that felt telling. “The top level of test rugby now, it feels like anybody can … I think South Africa are the No 1 in the world, doing wonderfully well. Everybody else, it feels like everybody can … The test matches are all super tight. You look at those games [on Saturday] and whilst some scorelines end up blowing up, at 60 minutes they’re still really, really tight. That’s the nature of test match rugby now.”
The Springboks remain out in front but while Borthwick would not admit it, England are leading the chasing pack.
