England 2025/26

[OllyM97]

OK then, here’s my take on the coming year for England:

6 Nations - Definitely think we’ll finish top two. Heart says 5/5 and a Grand Slam, head says 4/5 and a close loss in Paris. We’ll beat Wales and Italy. Scotland at Murrayfield could go either way but I’d have us narrow favourites. Ireland at Twickenham will be tricky but I think we win by 8-10 points with home advantage. We’re definitely capable of beating France away but if they handle the pressure (I think they’ll be 4/4 going into the last game as well) and their big names turn up, then I think their ceiling at the moment is a bit higher than ours, especially with home advantage. 1st or 2nd, but runners up more likely IMO.

Nations Championship - This one is a bit up in the air because you don’t know how some teams will approach it but, bar SA away, I expect us to win all the other fixtures. Argentina away will be tough but we’ve got an excellent record against them over the last 15 years or so. It’s a shame we’re not playing Fiji in Suva, that would have been a different challenge. As for our home matches in November, 3 wins are on the cards. I think the fixtures fall our way in terms of topping the Northern Hemisphere section. I’m going for an England v SA final, and for England to upset the World Champs at home with a big crowd behind them and win a tournament that ultimately has very little bearing on the RWC.

 

[BPM]

I’d be very happy with that.

Feels like we’re pretty much on the same page.

Building a winning mentality is important but I don’t think that is solely defined by winning the Six Nations or the Nations Championship. Both are very challenging competitions and I don’t think the format of this year’s fixtures favours us with the two toughest games being away from home. As I said in my previous post, I could accept losing to France in the 6 Nations if we’ve picked up good wins against Scotland and Ireland. Very few teams win in SA, so if we don’t win there it won’t be a disaster. As always, it’s about performance. If we play well in those games but come out on the wrong side of a tight game, I’m OK with it.

Ultimately, it’s about peaking at the right time and I see this year as part of the climb towards that peak rather than the peak itself. I feel like we’re going in the right direction and a good 2026 is about continuing to build upon the positivity of 2025.

Let’s put it this way - I’d much prefer a RWC win in 2027 to a Grand Slam or Nations Championship in 2026.

If this year continues on the current trajectory, I will be a lot more bullish about next year.

 

[Ddanno]

Getting a win over SA this year would be immense, but I neither expect it, nor in some weird way particularly want it, because I'd rather we had the desire for vengeance (instead of them) if we clash at the WC.

Other than that, I think France and the ABs will have a very good shot at turning us over as well, but reckon we'll have another good year. I'm looking forward to it whatever happens.

Kudos to Sriracha'd Bigwick, he's got me believing in the side again after a few torrid years

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I'd agree with all of the above but more than anything I just want us to put in a bloody convincing game against the Scots for once. There is something about that fixture where we just go to pieces and the Scots treat it as their world cup final. For the love of God can we just actually turn up for that game and put in a proper performance?

 

[Ddanno]

I'd agree with all of the above but more than anything I just want us to put in a bloody convincing game against the Scots for once. There is something about that fixture where we just go to pieces and the Scots treat it as their world cup final. For the love of God can we just actually turn up for that game and put in a proper performance?

Amen. If we can smack them in Edinburgh, and not by just one point I'll grin like Jiffy in 2013.

 

[Reiser99]

In terms of expectations I'm not sure. My heart says we should do well, but my head says it's too early to say we should be winning games against others in the top 4/5. Despite winning 11/12 and being on an 11 game winning run, only France and New Zealand were against top opposition. I think we're at a point where we're competing well against any in the top 2-5, with only S.A being the team to beat. However, I feel were evens against the rest and certainly should not be complacent at all.

I think this year will be a better indication of where we are at and show if last year was a false dawn, if we're in the mix or even if we're on a continuing upward trajectory. If we lose the 4 games against Ireland, France, NZ and SA then it was a bit of a false dawn. If we win say 2 and compete well in the others then we're in the mix. Winning the 6Ns or Nations championship would definitely be a statement.

 

[BPM]

Absolutely.

February is a big month for us. My hope is that we thrash Wales and then beat Scotland and Ireland convincingly with no bandwidth for those wins to be considered undeserved, lucky or influenced by a controversial decision.

If we can do that and back it up with a good win in Rome, we’d be going to Paris looking for a GS.

In some respects, the opening game of the 6N in Paris sets the tone without us being involved. For the first time, there’s a bit of pressure on Andy Farrell and if Ireland lose, that will only ratchet up ahead of facing us in round 3.

OTOH, if Ireland can win in Paris, it probably gives us the better route to winning the tournament/a possible GS.

Going to be an interesting February anyway.

 

[BPM]

In terms of expectations I'm not sure. My heart says we should do well, but my head says it's too early to say we should be winning games against others in the top 4/5. Despite winning 11/12 and being on an 11 game winning run, only France and New Zealand were against top opposition. I think we're at a point where we're competing well against any in the top 2-5, with only S.A being the team to beat. However, I feel were evens against the rest and certainly should not be complacent at all.

I think this year will be a better indication of where we are at and show if last year was a false dawn, if we're in the mix or even if we're on a continuing upward trajectory. If we lose the 4 games against Ireland, France, NZ and SA then it was a bit of a false dawn. If we win say 2 and compete well in the others then we're in the mix. Winning the 6Ns or Nations championship would definitely be a statement.

Sure, but that’s where the fixture list comes in to play. I feel like Ireland are past their peak and we’re playing them at home. It’s too early to say we should win it, but I do think we’ve reached the stage where we are confident of winning most of our home games.

However as I said above, rounds 1 and 2 could significantly influence the mood going into that game. It’s not inconceivable that Ireland lose to France and we lose to Scotland which would put a very different complexion on the round 3 game.

Murrayfield is the first real challenge. Again, I don’t think we’re at the stage where we can be totally confident of a win, but I do believe we are a better side than Scotland and it’s about time we started winning up there.

My prediction is that France beat Ireland in R1 and we beat Scotland in R2. If that happens, I feel like we will have the momentum we need to beat Ireland at home.*

*To complete the picture I definitely expect to beat Wales in R1 and for Ireland to beat Italy in R2.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Looking ahead to the RWC which is now only next year - 2 common themes around winners are very experienced teams and having the expectation of winning especially away from the comforts of home.

We have a fairly settled and experienced pack now. We can argue about the starter / bench mix but I’m not expecting too many new faces to burst in.

In the backs Mitchell, IFW and Freeman are guaranteed starters, but the other shirts are all up for grabs. Ford seems to have a hold on 10 but less than a year ago we thought that of F Smith. Freeman potentially moving to 13 complicates that further. Lot of talent around but blending that into a slick unit to take on the very best is another matter.

Would I currently expect us to beat the Boks anywhere? No.

Would I currently expect us to beat France away from home? No. And a game at HQ would be marginal.

Sealing the deal vs the ABs down there might have been a bit of a mental game changer. Certainly far more relevant than beating them up here. We had those chances but blew them.

In the 6N. Dealing confidently with Scotland, a mid table team that constantly flatters to deceive is a must. The emotional “it’s England” should only be able to take them so far. These are the kind of games that a team with real aspirations simply can’t fall over on. Even if results have flattered to deceive a bit, we’re definitely on the rise and losing at home to a waning Ireland would be a real disappointment. Le Crunch should be a GS showdown where I’d expect Fra to prevail.

This far out I’d expect us to be travelling to the RWC with hope outweighing expectation. We’ll be there or thereabouts, but to win the thing you’ve got to be able to beat everyone else and I don’t think we’ll be quite there. Anything can happen on any given day but we can’t yet say with any conviction that we’d beat France or the Boks more often than they’d beat us.

But there could be exciting times ahead. The 6N will tell us a lot.

 

[BPM]

Looking ahead to the RWC which is now only next year - 2 common themes around winners are very experienced teams and having the expectation of winning especially away from the comforts of home.

Agreed. This is where I think this year can be very useful with six pretty tough games away from home.

At present ‘blues away’ is the harder format with Scotland an obvious banana skin and Paris a very tough place to beat a very good team. I would expect to win in Rome, but Italy are significantly improved.

Those 3 away games plus the away games against SA, Fiji and Argentina gets us used to playing tough fixtures on the road.

I don’t expect us to win them all, but if we can beat Scotland, Italy, Fiji and Argentina and give France and the Boks a decent scare, I think that would be a solid foundation to take us into a World Cup year.

 

[higgik]

I think we will stick with Earl starting and Pollock on the bench, maybe switching for 1 game

Think SB idea is to have the 'attacker' at 8, with the freedom to move further out wide and be the link man.
6 and 7 will be the nuisance players in defence with strong tackles, and good jackals. The lineout will develop from greater variety of calls to create space.

 

[higgik]

Getting a win over SA this year would be immense, but I neither expect it, nor in some weird way particularly want it, because I'd rather we had the desire for vengeance (instead of them) if we clash at the WC.

Other than that, I think France and the ABs will have a very good shot at turning us over as well, but reckon we'll have another good year. I'm looking forward to it whatever happens.

Kudos to Sriracha'd Bigwick, he's got me believing in the side again after a few torrid years

We all complained about his methods, but like good coaches, he had a plan. In the short term he picked players who would do a job, while working on those to develop further, before integrating them into a more cohesive plan.
Just hope the development continues and wasn't reached a plateau or others work out how to beat it.

 

[Saintjay]

It looks like world rugby have no intent on banning the 7-1 bench. So seeing how we go against a fullbore SA and a 7-1 split would be nice to see as a measure of where we are at.

We should be Scotland, Fiji, Argentina and Italy. Any loses would be poor.

The measure of progress for this squad will now be how we go against Ireland, France, SA and the All Blacks over the next year or so.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Kudos to Sriracha'd Bigwick, he's got me believing in the side again after a few torrid years

Credit indeed due. Maybe part master plan, but definitely a fair bit of by hook or by crook about it - the coaching changes apart from anything else suggest that.

But nonetheless one way or another we’re in a decent place, but the state Jones left us in did mean that pretty much the only way was up and SB has also had the coach’s luck of a pretty decent crop of players coming through.

Ship is stabilised. Big question now is whether he can take the next step of winning silverware and fairly regularly beating the big boys.

 

[NickBD]

Freeman starting the next game at 13 again against Quins this weekend. Be 3 games in a row playing centre (first of the those 3 off the bench but still). The most intriguing for me is this one is with Dingwall on the inside. He looked very good with Hutchinson against bath, last time out with Dingwall for England Freeman looked ok.

 

[Which Tyler]

I'm a big fan of the Freeman at 13 experiment - I'm just glad it's happening at club level, not internationally.
If that continues for the whole of January, I'll have... gripes, but not complaints if he gets 6N time there (though I'd still prefer it in 20-minute intervals once the bench comes on, or against sides where there shouldn't be much jeopardy)

 

[Scotty]

I'm a big fan of the Freeman at 13 experiment - I'm just glad it's happening at club level, not internationally.
If that continues for the whole of January, I'll have... gripes, but not complaints if he gets 6N time there (though I'd still prefer it in 20-minute intervals once the bench comes on, or against sides where there shouldn't be much jeopardy)

Freeman at 14 with Lawrence at 13 then at 60 min keep he opposition guessing who we will bring the 23 on for. As Freeman and Lawrence both offer different threats.

 

[Ddanno]

Freeman at 14 with Lawrence at 13 then at 60 min keep he opposition guessing who we will bring the 23 on for. As Freeman and Lawrence both offer different threats.

Yeah one scores tries for fun, the other one drops the ball for fun

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I'm a big fan of the Freeman at 13 experiment - I'm just glad it's happening at club level, not internationally.

This. I don't mind players experimenting in different positions but I don't think internationals are where you do that. Positions require some degree of instinct that only comes with experience. That experience should be gained at club level first.

 

[Saintjay]

This. I don't mind players experimenting in different positions but I don't think internationals are where you do that. Positions require some degree of instinct that only comes with experience. That experience should be gained at club level first.

SB didn't get that memo. Marcus Smith being more an international 15 than 10 currently.