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England will be happy with their 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations performance with their four wins and one defeat placing them second in the final table. It’s a clear improvement on 2024 with only one point separating Steve Borthwick’s team from winners France.
They finish the tournament with a balance squad, especially in the back-row, and their pack beginning to bring back memories of when there were none better. There are still concerns over the lack of depth in the second-row, however.
Tommy Freeman’s showing at centre and Fraser Dingwell’s re-emergence bode well, fullback George Furbank will be return soon, and the jet-heeled Henry Arundell will be back in contention when he moves from Racing 92 to Bath.
Elsewhere, Borthwick can look back with pride on how he used Marcus Smith. The clamour to make him the first-choice 10 has died down with Finn Smith’s emergence, but he is still a key squad member able to cover two positions.
He may lose out at 15 when Furbank returns, but Borthwick has avoided the situation that arose with Danny Cipriani in the past, when it was all or nothing.
Another choice that has paid off for Borthwick is his decision to make Maro Itoje captain in place of Jamie George.
Itoje grew massively into the captaincy with performances to match. The overly emotive displays at scrums, rucks and mauls are gone, and he appears to have struck up a good rapport with referees.
George, 34, remains a key player, but it was notable that Borthwick used Luke Cowan-Dickie as his first-choice hooker in four of England’s five matches. As captain George was often taken off just when his influence was needed, but Borthwick flipped the situation and George’s calming presence was a key feature off the bench, notably against France.
It will be important to remember that while England scored 17 tries in their final two matches, there will be tougher challenges to come. That means England fans will need to expect more performances likes those against France and Scotland if they want to make it to the very top.