Alex Mitchell: England scrum half leading new era with Saints teammates Fin Smith & Henry Pollock

Today at 07:26 AM

England scrum half Alex Mitchell is one of an assortment of Northampton Saints stars, that are leading Steve Borthwick’s side forward into a new generation. Mitchell distributes the attacking tempo to an England team decorated in green, black and gold, with a solid group of his Franklin’s Gardens teammates occupying the ranks of the Test match stage.

Mitchell established a steady halfback partnership with Fin Smith, with the Northampton telepathy carried to the Test match level since Borthwick handed the fly half the keys to the back-line. Smith earned his first England start in the second round of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, and orchestrated his team to a hard-fought win over France. Mitchell believes that Smith is now at home in the England 10 shirt, in what could be a long-held role for his Saints brother-in-arms.

“I wouldn’t say surprised at all. I’ve said it before, he’s a classy operator. I’m always still shocked that he’s only 22 years old. He’s been quality for Saints for a couple of years now. And coming into this set-up, he's not changed at all, still a massive leader. He’s stepped up at that fly half position. He makes my job so easy, and he’s been quality in the four games he started. He’s got a bright future.”

Whilst Fin Smith made his first Test start for England in the 2025 Six Nations, and the tournament also marked a notable return for Fraser Dingwall and a positional shift for Tommy Freeman, it is yet another Northampton Saints player who takes the spotlight from the final round of the Championship.

The recent trip to Cardiff brought about the England Test debut for Henry Pollock, and the highly rated back row slotted in seamlessly to the senior step-up. After winning the 2024 U20 Six Nations and World Championship double with the England U20s, Pollock continued on his international trajectory with caps for England A against the Australian and Irish develop squads.

You could see the second that Pollock got onto the pitch, the 20-year-old was fired up with a beaming smile stretched across his face. Plenty has been said in recent weeks about Pollock’s intensity as an individual, both in training and away from the pitch. Mitchell has known Pollock throughout his entire professional career, and hammered home what the newly capped star is really like.

“He has always been like that. He's full of energy, and he probably was planning a few try celebrations. He got two in the end, didn’t he? So it’s going to be great for his confidence, isn’t it? But he’s a top lad. It was obviously great to get his debut and he was quality when he came on. 

“There’s been a decent amount of Saints boys in the camp, which is always helpful, and we’re trying to bring him in. He's a unique character, but he’s a good one to have around, full of energy and brings a bit of a buzz. You've got to get used to him at times, but once you get to know him, he's a fantastic man.”

England capped off their 2025 Guinness Six Nations campaign in style, albeit without picking up the trophy to end their tournament as champions. Steve Borthwick’s side did all they could for their title hopes, as they handed Wales a monstrous 10-try battering, with the final score reading 68-14 to the rampant visitors at the Principality Stadium.

“I’ve not been involved in too many games like that.” Mitchell said. “Probably a fair few with Northampton, but sometimes the ball goes your way, and I think that helps.

“We just put pressure on them. Pressure on pressure the whole time and forced ourselves to get the bounce of the ball and really made them struggle to exit off their back end and get results off that.  So I think we were class today. There’s a few things to fix up, but I’m really happy with our full performance.”

“We had a great mixture of our attacking game, our kicking game, and then we wanted to move the ball. That’s a good blueprint to try and set off and try and push forward with. It’s an exciting time for us. Sometimes we get a lot of heat, but it’s fantastic to get a win like that, especially in a stadium like this which is tough to come and play at.”

With 10 tries on the score-sheet at the Principality Stadium, there is no denying how England brought a more ruthless edge to the Welsh capital. After an arduous Summer tour and Autumn Series in 2024, four wins out of five in the 2025 Six Nations is an excellent example of how England have elevated their performances with Lions places on the line for their top stars.

“We always speak about that, speak about wanting to do more.” Mitchell added. “We don’t want to just settle on our leads. You want to keep scoring because if you settle on the lead, they’re going to come back and try and bite you. Regardless of the score, you’re going to keep pushing, get more tries. Foot on the throat is our mentality with that and we did that.”

“We ignored the outside noise. We know within ourselves we lost games by a couple of points, but we know with a different bounce of the ball we'd have won those games (Autumn Series vs New Zealand and Australia). So we know, if we stick to our systems and our blueprints or whatever that is, we know we’re going to get results and now we're building and getting on a decent path, so it’s an exciting course.

EDITORS PICKS:

• Team of the Tournament: 2025 Guinness Men's Six Nations
• Four nominees announced for Six Nations Player of the Tournament
• "Be Yourself" – Henry Pollock reveals what Ellis Genge said to him upon his England debut
• "It's devastating"- Wales coach Matt Sherratt reacts to record 68-14 defeat to England 
• England's 2025 Six Nations Players Ranked From Best to Worst

QUIZ: Can you name these EIGHT Six Nations legends…

Can you name the top eight try-scorers in Six Nations history? These players have lit up the competition with their incredible finishing ability, and now it’s your turn to see if you can match their achievements.

You've got three minutes on the clock—let’s see how many you can get! Ready, set, go!

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