"He said 'Steve, I'll be back'" – England Autumn Squad: Borthwick updates on George Ford and Henry Slade's injury returns
10/16/2024 08:42 AM
Steve Borthwick has confirmed his squad for the upcoming Autumn Nations Series, with the 36-man group confirmed this morning at the Allianz Stadium. Borthwick spoke with the media at the home of English Rugby, and addressed his key decisions that pieced together his squad.
There has been an assortment of injury updates within Steve Borthwick’s squad, with the status of numerous leading players updated after recent breaks on the side-lines. Borthwick expressed the conditioning of the likes of Henry Slade, Alex Mitchell, Fraser Dingwall and George Ford, whilst also providing some clarity on the current role of departing defence coach Felix Jones.
England commence their Autumn Nations Series campaign on Saturday November 2nd, with a blockbuster battle lined up against the All Blacks. The Autumn schedule is a relentless one for England, as they are booked in for fixtures with New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Japan across back-to-back November weekends.
Add in the excitement of the England A match against Australia A next month, and there was plenty for Borthwick to delve into. Here are the top five talking points, from Steve Borthwick’s Autumn Nations squad announcement.
1. Alex Mitchell injury update – Borthwick does not want to rule out a return
The first of four injury updates provided by the England head coach, was Steve Borthwick issuing a status on his absent scrum half Alex Mitchell. The Northampton Saints man has not been in action since England’s Summer tour of New Zealand, with the halfback on the mend from a neck injury, and has yet to feature in green, black and gold this season.
STEVE BORTHWICK: “We’re assessing and given the nature of the neck injury we’re ensuring we do everything absolutely right by Alex. Northampton have been doing a great job in that regard. He had an assessment a week or so ago that showed some signs of improvement. There’s another assessment in a few weeks.
Clearly for the autumn series that’s just upon us, that’s very tight. I don’t want to be ruling players in or out in that circumstances but it’s clearly very, very tight. The good thing is that we’ve got plenty of very good nines in this country. Alex is outstanding and has established himself as the starting nine in the England shirt. We’re disappointed that right now he’s not available, and we wish him as quick a recovery as possible.”
2. Henry Slade update – Exeter Chiefs midfielder included despite shoulder injury
An exciting upside to the latest England squad announcement, was the unexpected inclusion of Exeter Chiefs centre Henry Slade. The midfielder has been absent from the Chiefs so far this season, having been recovering from shoulder surgery he had delayed until the off-season. Slade featured for England in the Summer tour matches against New Zealand, and Borthwick is hopeful to have the playmaker back in time for the Autumn.
STEVE BORTHWICK: “The nature of a shoulder injury means that physically there’s a lot you can do from a running perspective, which is one of the great assets of Sladey’s game. In that sense we know that he’s fit. The contact elements have been progressing as his shoulder has got stronger.
“Speaking to him at the alignment camp here last week when he was continuing his rehab, he feels really good. Our conversations with Rob Baxter are really positive. He’s undergoing further assessments and tests at the end of this week and Rob and I said we'd have another conversation at the end of this week when we have more information about the next steps.
“That’s one of the possibilities that’s being considered (playing for Exeter before the Autumn). It’s something that Rob and I have talked about. We just need that further information from the end of the week from the assessments.
“It’s also about what Sladey himself feels he needs to do. This is an experienced player now with more than 60 Tests. These players know exactly what they need to do to be ready to play. The good thing is that he’s fit, he’s really positive and every confident about the next steps.”
