England Six Nations Squad 2025

[Which Tyler]

Like your thinking, but that's too much change and disruption.
Also, Hendy? Really?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

3 Rodd

Erm

 

[Wasps92]

Freeman seems to be a bit of a boo boy for some reason.

 

[Grizwald]

Players look top class in the prem but look rather average when they play against the best at this level ..

It's all about the stats and spreadsheets...

I think these are two current issues. In the prem I heard a stat about the amount of fixtures pre Christmas that had a winning margin of 30 or more. It was big. I don't think it preparing the players for international rugby. The positive on the salary cap may be that more younger lads get exposed to pro rugby sooner.

Borthwick and Co are too stats driven has been a criticism. It's all well and good until you get punched in the face and all that. Ireland adapted in the pitch yesterday, England don't seem to be able to and/or aren't given the freedom.

 

[Grizwald]

Freeman seems to be a bit of a boo boy for some reason.

I think he's a cracking player. He seems to be getting targeted as not having the top end pace, but England have surpey had slower in recent memory, Nowell and Daly for two.

I think most of the alternatives also have flaws to their game.

 

[Rugbyfan564]

Jame George has been (re) added to the squad. Curtis Langdon is still in there as well but no Raffi Quirke or Arthur Clark.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Jame George has been (re) added to the squad. Curtis Langdon is still in there as well but no Raffi Quirke or Arthur Clark.

4 hookers? Sounding like a house of ill repute.

 

[Geordie]

Freeman seems to be a bit of a boo boy for some reason.

Well your always going to have difference's of opinions on games and players.

I've been critical of him for England in past games that he has looked a little anonymous but I felt he was pretty good yesterday.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

When SB fires up his spreadsheets for France he'll notice that…..

The discipline needs to be sorted. We can moan all we like about the ref, but at the end of the day, it looks like another we managed to get on the wrong side of. Conceding 11 pens, 2 free kicks and a yellow isn't going to help win many matches. The only players to concede more than one pen were the captain Itoje and vice captain Genge.

Slade conceded one turnover and missed 4 out of 10 attempted tackles. Mitchell also conceded a turnover and only completed 3 of 9 attempted tackles.

Freeman conceded 3 turnovers with LCD and Itoje conceding 2 each. The only other multiple offender was Earl who conceded 2 and missed 3 of the 10 tackles he attempted.

Standout in defence was B Curry with a perfect completion of 18. Itoje completed all 15 of his and Martin all 14 of his.

Stuart was recorded with just 2 metres run, Martin just 1 and zero from Itoje. Your big guys have to make more impact than that.

Source:

Ireland vs England - Player Statistics - Six Nations 2025 - 1 Feb, 2025 - ESPN

Get a summary of the Ireland vs England, Six Nations 2025 1 Feb, 2025 rugby match.

www.espn.co.uk

I'm genuinely amazed at how discipline and tackling technique has been such a weakness for so long with England. These are supposed to be professionals so why are we consistently worse than even the likes for ******* Italy and some tier 2 teams in these areas? I really can't understand what the hell is going on at club and international level that some of the basics are so awful. There is so excuse to have a tackle completion rate below 75%, and that's already not exactly a target of a "good" rate, merely an acceptable one.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Earl joining Borthwick on the "we're inexperienced" excuse train.

Hope they don't read the article in today's Times which notes that our starting XV had more caps than France's entire 23 on Friday.

Our bench was too raw, but the starters averaged 37, which is enough.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Don't know what people are expecting from Martin he's making more tackles per minute than anyone else.


That back row isn't physical enough for test rugby, you can't expect just one person.


Tom Curry is amazing player but the curry twins don't work at this level especially with Earl at 8

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Tom Curry is amazing player but the curry twins don't work at this level especially with Earl at 8

I'd lose the especially tbh

Nothing egregious about a flank pairing like those two, especially with the stats they put up - Earl is the imbalance in the pack and his forms not good enough to drop other people as a result

Not against Chessum starting at 6 but we need to look at another 8


Don't get the hate boner for Martin atm - people praise our maul defence and improved scrummaging but then moan about him being in the team
Ermmmmmm

he's making more tackles per minute than anyone else.

If we're being pedantic this is BC though, he made 4 more and they were subbed at the same time

 

[Reiser99]

Earl joining Borthwick on the "we're inexperienced" excuse train.

Hope they don't read the article in today's Times which notes that our starting XV had more caps than France's entire 23 on Friday.

Our bench was too raw, but the starters averaged 37, which is enough.

This is one of the big problems for me and why I'm very negative about this England side. If I could see some clear progress and genuine acknowledgement of how to improve then fine. But every step forward in one area is met with a backwards step in another and then you get crap excuses like this. It doesn't seem like anyone involved actually knows how to address the issues.

 

[Reiser99]

On Earl, I felt he should have been dropped or moved in the Autumn. Borthwick needs to be more ruthless in these situations. He doesn't need to be EJ ruthless, but he can't stick to players who aren't performing.

 

[Saintjay]

On Earl, I felt he should have been dropped or moved in the Autumn. Borthwick needs to be more ruthless in these situations. He doesn't need to be EJ ruthless, but he can't stick to players who aren't performing.

Totally agree. I'm starting to think England have a deph problem. Other than a few players IFW, Furbank etc that was the main XV.

Is anyone coming in going to be a vast improvement on who we already have, equally is anyone playing so well they are undropable or should be starting but aren't.

 

[Geordie]

Don't know what people are expecting from Martin he's making more tackles per minute than anyone else.

I want to see him do more than just tackling. I want to see him doing some destructive carrying..which is what we need our big guys doing.

If the brunt of the tackling is on him it's going to have a detrimental effect on what he offers in attack and also will hit his fitness quickly.

This is where we need Willis in and probably Chessum to offer more size and power in these areas. Share the responsibility.

Especially when Earl is not offering much at the moment.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I want to see him do more than just tackling. I want to see him doing some destructive carrying..which is what we need our big guys doing.

If the brunt of the tackling is on him it's going to have a detrimental effect on what he offers in attack and also will hit his fitness quickly.

This is where we need Willis in and probably Chessum to offer more size and power in these areas. Share the responsibility.

Especially when Earl is not offering much at the moment.

But that is a an England system problem you look at the carries in general only 2 forwards broke more than 1 tackle and they are Dan and Earl with no line breaks.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I'd lose the especially tbh

Nothing egregious about a flank pairing like those two, especially with the stats they put up - Earl is the imbalance in the pack and his forms not good enough to drop other people as a result

Not against Chessum starting at 6 but we need to look at another 8


Don't get the hate boner for Martin atm - people praise our maul defence and improved scrummaging but then moan about him being in the team
Ermmmmmm


If we're being pedantic this is BC though, he made 4 more and they were subbed at the same time

That's fair.
Personally I think CCS needs to move and try to start somewhere at 8. He isn't good enough a defensive option at 6.
Willis def needs to start he seems more like a grinding starting 8 type.

I thought Baxter and Heyes looked good on the bench.

The thing with Chessum and Itoje combo is we know it's a bit light weight.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

I want to see him do more than just tackling. I want to see him doing some destructive carrying..which is what we need our big guys doing.

If the brunt of the tackling is on him it's going to have a detrimental effect on what he offers in attack and also will hit his fitness quickly.

This is where we need Willis in and probably Chessum to offer more size and power in these areas. Share the responsibility.

Especially when Earl is not offering much at the moment.

Yeah.

When Martin came on the scene, in most games there'd be a couple of shuddering moments from him. Knocking the wind out of opposing carriers or rampaging over defenders and making yards when he did have the ball. At the time I wrote on here that he was one of our most important players as he was instrumental in setting the tempo and mood. He's worth his place, but we've seen much less of those big impactful moments from him. Same reason why I'm such a fan of Underhill. It's one thing being industrious, quite another making a difference.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

That's fair.
Personally I think CCS needs to move and try to start somewhere at 8. He isn't good enough a defensive option at 6.
Willis def needs to start he seems more like a grinding starting 8 type.

I thought Baxter and Heyes looked good on the bench.

The thing with Chessum and Itoje combo is we know it's a bit light weight.

Agree CCS looks more like an 8.

Did you literally mean Baxter and Heyes looked good on the bench? Or from it?

Obviously Martin is heavier than Chessum but only by 6 kilos or so. It's not like Martin's 135kg.