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#Post#: 156966--------------------------------------------------
Five players get first England deals in Borthwick shake-up
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: August 12, 2026, 1:26 pm
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England boss Steve Borthwick has shaken up his centrally
contracted squad with just over a year to go until the Rugby
World Cup.
Borthwick has announced the 25 players who will receive enhanced
player contracts, worth around £150,000, for the 2026-27 season.
Handed an elite deal for the first time are prop Asher
Opoku-Fordjour, lock Alex Coles, flanker Guy Pepper, scrum-half
Jack van Poortvliet and centre Seb Atkinson.
Flanker Ben Curry, versatile back Elliot Daly, centre Ollie
Lawrence and wing Tom Roebuck all miss out on contracts, while
France-bound number eight Tom Willis is no longer eligible for
England selection.
Curry and Daly have both been hit by long injury lay-offs over
the past year, while Roebuck and Lawrence have fallen out of
favour after previously being mainstays of the side.
Willis was handed an enhanced contract this time last year after
cementing his place in the England set-up at the start of 2025,
but he has not played for his country since agreeing a shock
move to Bordeaux for next season.
The enhanced contracts were introduced in 2024 as part of the
new Professional Game Partnership between the Rugby Football
Union and the Prem clubs.
It gives Borthwick the final say over medical and conditioning
matters, with the 25 players all receiving a fixed amount of
money from the RFU, as opposed to a game-by-game match fee.
It is understood the current match fee is around £21,000 per
game for non centrally-contracted players, while the enhanced
squad players still receive an extra £7,000 per game for image
rights, on top of their fixed annual amount.
The RFU says the contracts "help ensure the best possible
preparation for the England Men's team", but the new system has
not been without teething problems, for example when Exeter and
England clashed over the treatment of star wing Immanuel
Feyi-Waboso's shoulder injury in late 2024 and early 2025.
After a long winning run in 2025, England flopped in the Six
Nations earlier this year, winning just one match, but recovered
to win two out of their three Nations Championship games in
July.
Borthwick's side host Australia, Japan and New Zealand this
November in the northern hemisphere leg of the inaugural
tournament.
Full list of England men's enhanced player contracts
Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
George Furbank (Harlequins)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
George Martin (Saracens)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)
HTML https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cwy427n1dnvo
#Post#: 156969--------------------------------------------------
Re: Five players get first England deals in Borthwick shake-up
DIR By: FrostAndFire
Date: August 12, 2026, 3:12 pm
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Bit mystified by some of those, but so it goes.
#Post#: 156970--------------------------------------------------
Re: Five players get first England deals in Borthwick shake-up
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: August 12, 2026, 3:57 pm
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"A tall Eddie Jones" who is "not a people person" Was the
description used by his former boss at Leicester, Geordan Murphy
about SB, he has failed as England coach but the RFU don’t want
to sack him, because it would look bad and cost a fortune.
Despite all the data analysis he supposedly carries out, it just
seems that the selection process is based on players who will
carry out his robotic and completely player input free game
plan, the draw at the RWC is very favourable to England but with
him as coach, beating one of the top teams when we meet them is
unimaginable.
A wasted opportunity and a waste of player talent, sums up his
England coaching career so far.
#Post#: 156976--------------------------------------------------
Re: Five players get first England deals in Borthwick shake-up
DIR By: MaidstoneQuin
Date: August 13, 2026, 2:47 am
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Please, can someone make a case for JVP to have one? He's seldom
looked good for England
Same old players by and large, same old results to follow.
I imagine after a terrible RWC, SB will go, and the RFU will
start an amazing fact finding mission to work out where they
went wrong. Except most England fans could have told them about
2 seasons ago
#Post#: 156978--------------------------------------------------
Re: Five players get first England deals in Borthwick shake-up
DIR By: Quinky
Date: August 13, 2026, 3:19 am
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--- Quote from: Rugbycat link ---
>
> Curry and Daly have both been hit by long injury lay-offs over
the past year, and Daly has finally been assessed as being "not
very good".
>
>
--- End Quote ---
Fixed it.
#Post#: 156982--------------------------------------------------
Re: Five players get first England deals in Borthwick shake-up
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: August 13, 2026, 4:42 am
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Surprised by Roebuck missing out. 4 tries in 6 matches for
England last season and looked a real threat. I guess he doesn't
have the hype of the jumpy kid.
#Post#: 156986--------------------------------------------------
Re: Five players get first England deals in Borthwick shake-up
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: August 13, 2026, 5:50 am
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--- Quote from: MaidstoneQuin link ---
>
> Please, can someone make a case for JVP to have one? He's
seldom looked good for England
>
> Same old players by and large, same old results to follow.
>
> I imagine after a terrible RWC, SB will go, and the RFU will
start an amazing fact finding mission to work out where they
went wrong. Except most England fans could have told them about
2 seasons ago
>
--- End Quote ---
JvP will just carry out the game plan no matter what, even if a
huge gap opens up he will still mindlessly kick away possession,
he seems to have gone backwards as a player when he first came
through had a decent running game, and moved the ball faster
from rucks, the slow loopy pass, just seems slower and more
loopy now.
His selection seems based on 2023 form not the present reality,
the future of England at 9 is Archie McParland, Lucas Friday and
Charlie Bracken, Lucas has the advantage of getting more game
time with us than others will get barring injuries, probably
best they are all kept away from the present England setup.
#Post#: 156987--------------------------------------------------
Re: Five players get first England deals in Borthwick shake-up
DIR By: ChiddQuin
Date: August 13, 2026, 5:52 am
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Well that's me with a glum face for the rest of the day. Does
not bode well for the RWC.
#Post#: 156988--------------------------------------------------
Re: Five players get first England deals in Borthwick shake-up
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: August 13, 2026, 6:17 am
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Eddie Jones has revealed an interesting method he uses to coach
his Japan side - watching videos of geese fly in formation.
Japan are facing Australia in a two-Test, home and away series
this month, and Jones' side were beaten 35-32 by the Wallabies
in Osaka last weekend.
The former England coach has made five changes for the second
Test in Townsville, Australia on Saturday (06:15 BST), including
picking university student Yoshitaka Yazaki on the wing and
giving Shunsuke Uenobo his first start at centre.
Jones said Japan's support play "wasn't as sharp as we would
have liked" in the opening game, so he has turned to nature to
get his point across.
"The reason we watch videos of geese is that the head of the
flock is like the ball-carrier," the Australian said.
"The ball carrier is king, and then everyone else has got to
follow after that.
"The geese fly hundreds, thousands of miles in formation and
they follow the one goose in front, and it's the responsibility
of the support players to respond to what the ball-carrier
does."
Australia overcame an early red card for Miles Amatosero to
defeat home side Japan and seal their first win under new head
coach Les Kiss, who succeeded Joe Schmidt earlier this year.
With his geese videos in hand, Jones said Japan have "set
ourselves the task of really taking it to Australia this week".
He added: "We're very disappointed to lose the last game, so the
most important thing now is how we take on this game."
'Remember the geese' - when Sir Alex Ferguson inspired Team
Europe at the Ryder Cup
Jones is not the only coach to have used geese to motivate his
players.
During 26 trophy-laden years at Manchester United, Sir Alex
Ferguson would often stop training and tell his players to look
to the sky and observe the geese overhead.
Pointing out the perfect V formation, Ferguson would tell his
players that each bird would take its turn to lead from the
front as they embarked on a 4,000-mile migration in the winter.
Finally, he would add: "Now if they can do that, you can give me
38 games to win the league."
Ferguson famously used the story to motivate Team Europe's
players at the 2014 Ryder Cup.
The Scot was asked to speak to the players before the tournament
in Gleneagles by team captain Paul McGinley, where he recounted
the story of the geese.
Europe strolled to victory, with McGinley revealing afterwards
that the players heeded Ferguson's words throughout the
tournament.
"It was a phrase we used throughout the week: remember the
geese," McGinley said.
"I'd never worked with superstars so dealing with the likes of
Rory McIlroy and how he was going to feel in that situation was
alien to me. Sir Alex is the one who I thought could help me
with that.
"He spoke to the caddies before he spoke to the players, which
was great.
"It was a lot of fun for them and made them feel included,
because they were a big part of what we did. I could hear the
laughter coming from the caddies' room so I knew it was going
well.
"When he came in he knew every player's name and addressed
everyone personally.
"When we won, this perfect V of geese flew right over our heads
and over the clubhouse."
Team Europe celebrate winning the Ryder Cup
Will SB now discover Geese.
HTML https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cgq5pk5gpyyo
#Post#: 156989--------------------------------------------------
Re: Five players get first England deals in Borthwick shake-up
DIR By: MaidstoneQuin
Date: August 13, 2026, 7:44 am
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--- Quote from: Rugbycat link ---
>
>
> Will SB now discover Geese.
>
--- End Quote ---
Geese are too interesting for Steve. I reckon a pigeon from
Trafalgar square will do. Or perhaps will take inspiration from
a hedgehog
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