England head coach Steve Borthwick addresses five changes to Six Nations squad – calls up Henry Pollock
Yesterday at 01:00 PM
England head coach Steve Borthwick has already shuffled up the personnel in his Six Nations squad, with an assortment of injuries side-lining key players for various timelines of the tournament. Borthwick will be without his former captain Jamie George, scrum halves Alex Mitchell and Jack van Poortvleit, lock Alex Coles and back row Alex Dombrandt for the immediate training week in Spain.
The five players all sustained injuries this past weekend, for their respective clubs in the Investec Champions Cup. Borthwick has made the amendments to the voids in the squad, with five call-ups confirmed this morning. Scrum half duo of Ben Spencer and Raffi Querke join the fold from Bath and Sale, with highly rated lock Arthur Clark arriving in camp from Gloucester. Northampton have contributed hooker Curtis Langdon and back row Henry Pollock to the squad, that assembled today in Girona.
Borthwick had to wait a day before joining up with his squad in Catalonia, as he completed his media duties at the 2025 Men’s Guinness Six Nations launch in Rome. Amidst an assortment of interviews and media opportunities in the Italian capital, Borthwick gave his verdict on quite the drastic update to his Six Nations squad.
“You always anticipate there's going to be changes. Every coach now does and you've got to adapt. That's why you have your depth charts. We had a day in as a (wider) squad bnout 10 days ago and a good number of players were present who I hadn't selected in the original Six Nations squad last week. People have been presented to around what we're trying to do.”
The former lock then gave his insight into the different stages of recovery that his players are on, and provided an update on how George is fairing so soon after being relinquished of the England captaincy.
“There were a series of scans yesterday going on through the day, I was given all the reports finishing late last night when we landed in Rome.
“Jamie George will hopefully be 2-3 weeks. Hopefully it's sooner than that. Curtis (Langdon) is a player who's been desperate for an opportunity and he has an opportunity in this squad.”
“He's (Jamie George) a top class player, a great leader and a fantastic influence around the other players. So we're desperately disappointed for us as a squad and for him. I spoke to him yesterday and I got a sense of determination from him down the phone. He's a fast healer and he's going to get back asap. I'll be delighted to get him back fully fit. I told him that to pull a hamstring he'd clearly run too fast. I'm disappointed for him but hopefully he'll be back soon.”
Borthwick then turned his attention towards the other changes in the forward pack, with plenty of excitement around young uncapped bolters Henry Pollock and Arthur Clark. Borthwick started off by addressing the hopes of an expected return for experienced lock Alex Coles, before delving into what he is excited to see from the duo of debutantes.
“We're still unclear about the exact timescale (for Alex Coles) but hopefully we're just talking a matter of weeks.”
“There have been a couple of injuries to other second row players and Arthur is a player I've been watching for a while. I spoke to him a few times at the end of last season and I was up at the Gloucester v Scarlets game 10 days ago to watch him. I've spoken to Skivs (George Skivington – Gloucester head coach) about his development.”
“Alex Dombrandt, (has injured his) calf. He should be 3-4 weeks hopefully and then back and available.”
“When you saw him (Henry Pollock) come on at the weekend, in a big European fixture, he played with fierce competitiveness. It is all about winning for him; finding a way to help his team win. He won the penalty which sealed victory for them (Northampton). I think that shows the character of the young man.
“To go away and play against the Bulls in South Africa, as a young man, he took the game to the opposition. And again, the European (Cup), the importance of going away and playing in Paris and taking the game to the opposition the way he did against Stade Francais. That tells you this man is a young man with fierce competitiveness, fiercely competitive, and that’s what I want in this England squad. He was very close to being in the original squad.
“The back row is highly contested for us. And I want back rowers who are going to compete, really compete, because the level of back rows of the teams in the Six Nations is phenomenal. Look at the Ireland back row. 'I want the back row forwards who are going to run, who are going to hit and link attack. And I think he does that. I think we got some good back rows who do that, I'm looking forward to working with them in the next two weeks, ahead of that first test.”
An area of real rearrangement for Borthwick is the scrum half shirt, with two of his selected trio of nines out of action for the current week in Girona. Whilst Alex Mitchell’s injury is by no means as severe as that of his East Midlands rival Jack van Poortvleit’s, the door is open for both Ben Spencer and Raffi Querke to showcase their talents for a retention in the squad.
“Alex Mitchell, He'll be on modified training and rehabilitation this week and should be in training next week. JVP injured his knee at the weekend. It's still being assessed but he could potentially be out for a few weeks, hopefully in the region of four weeks.”
“Alex clearly established himself as the first-choice No 9 at the World Cup and through 2024 we really saw him grow as a Test player. He has that running threat, but he also has speed of ball which is the quickest of all our nines.
“You can see the effect Alex has on the Northampton team as well as the England team. We are very optimistic that he will be available next week and he's been playing really well. He is clearly crucial to the way we want to play. We know that, in this championship, the breakdown is going to be hard-fought, so getting that ball away is going to be very, very important to us.”
“You can see the threat he (Raffi Querke) brings in his carry, in particular. He sees opportunities and he finds space. You could see that in the influence he had on the game against Bristol a few weeks ago. He had an incredible impact and you have to be a very good player to have that sort of impact on a game.
“We've been tracking him for a period of time. I've not had the opportunity to work with him very much, but we've seen over the last number of weeks that he has been putting performances together. He had a little niggle which meant he missed one game, but he's been gradually putting those performances together.
“I'm looking forward to seeing him bringing that running threat coupled with how strong he is. He almost plays like an extra back-row forward in terms of the way he carries.”
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