Watching a heated East Midlands derby at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Saturday, Steve Borthwick could not help cracking a smile. The half-time whistle had blown and yet the players of Leicester and Northampton were in no hurry to head down the tunnel, handbags out as they traded barbs and barges in a semi-scuffle that threatened to become something more. To their head coach’s delight, it was a host of England internationals at the heart of it: Alex Mitchell the instigator; Freddie Steward an escalator; Henry Pollock a natural fit as the pantomime villain; Ollie Chessum (literally) chasing him off stage. Sprinkle in walk-on cameos from Alex Coles, Joe Heyes, Jack van Poortvliet and the rest, and one would have found a fair portion of the 36-man squad named by Borthwick to intensify their preparations for the upcoming Nations Championship.

Clear the air talks, then? No need, Borthwick insisted. Those club rivalries may remain strong, but gone, largely, are the days of Prem tensions spilling into England camps. Indeed, plenty of the protagonists from Saturday’s skirmish holidayed together in Brazil following the summer tour; on Monday morning, they were back to being thick as thieves. “What I think is very good is that the players compete in the way they do one day and they can come in and be great mates the next day,” Borthwick explained. “I actually think it's a real strength of the game to be able to compete like that in that kind of full-blooded encounter, as heated as that is, and then they're perfectly fine.

“As of tomorrow, everybody’s rivals again. It’s a strength of English rugby that the players have such pride in their clubs.”

All good fun, in the end, but Borthwick had a serious point to make as he set the table for the 12 months ahead that will culminate in next year’s World Cup in Australia. “Do I like seeing intensity, passion, pride? Yes. Do I want the players to bring that passion and pride in an England shirt? Absolutely. These are young players that have grown up at their clubs and emerged as big players at their clubs. I want that in an England shirt. Sometimes it takes a little while in an England shirt, sometimes a number of years.

“A large part of our team is very young: under 25, 26, that’s young for Test level. I want those players to come through and really own this team over the next period. We are within that year to the World Cup now, and I’ve talked to the players about that and the timescale we have.”

Consider the starter’s gun fully fired, then, in the race for World Cup places. Borthwick is so often circumspect about looking far ahead – and was hoisted by his own petard to some extent having done so at the Six Nations – and therefore it was striking to hear him speak so openly about how he is plotting for the tournament. “We’ve got 12 Tests now to the World Cup. There are 10 Tests until I name the 33-man squad. I’ve said to the players I will not be calling in a big training squad. If you are in the training squad, you’ve got a very realistic chance of being in that 33.

‘There are nine Tests until I name that training squad. This series of games this autumn is the last opportunity we have playing southern hemisphere opposition before we’re at that World Cup.”

Borthwick learned four years ago how quickly the World Cup comes around – although he has the benefit this time around of at least being in his role with a year to go, and strong backing from the Rugby Football Union, too. Still, he will recognise the need to build momentum with a strong end to the Nations Championship campaign. Games against Australia, Japan and New Zealand feel nicely positioned for England, with another clash on home soil on the first finals weekend at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium something of a bonus, too.

Though a bolder selector than some suggest, the time for radical rethinks seems to have come and gone. Borthwick believes he already has, injury permitting, a pretty good idea of 25 or more of his 33-man squad for the World Cup. “I have been very explicit to the team over a period of time now about why I am consistent in selection,” he said.

“As ever, in every World Cup, when you come to the final selection meeting it is always numbers 31, 32, 33 you spend all the time talking about at the end. Largely, you need good players, positional versatility is a real bonus in those players, and the other aspect is having quality character – you want good men that are going to be selfless and help the team and are then able to step in and do the job.”


When it comes to long-term planning, a niggly calf for Fin Smith is far from ideal; with George Ford and Marcus Smith firmly established as Test 10s, though, fly half is a position of strength. Guy Pepper’s presence as a balancing back-row force will be missed, while hopes that Benhard Janse van Rensburg may help solve the midfield puzzle must be put on hold as the Bristol centre concentrates on getting back to rugby after two head injuries in three games. Joe Marchant and Will Joseph will search for long-awaited Test returns in his stead.

International bows, meanwhile, may well await Archie McParland and Kepu Tuipulotu as Borthwick seeks to nail down his third scrum half and hooker. Provided, that is, that they and the rest get through a somewhat untimely round of Prem fixtures this weekend. “You start looking at the competition for places and how everyone wants to be in that World Cup squad,” Borthwick said. “When they come into camp again on Monday night having recovered from their games, all that matters then is how we perform the way we want to against Australia.”