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Back in October, when Pennyhill Park was still decked out with pumpkins, Steve Borthwick had one key line of messaging for his players.
As they geared up for a new campaign, he talked to his squad about the World Cup. There has been a tendency to shy away from big dreams in English rugby. But Borthwick talked about winning the big one in two years' time.
To give themselves the best possible chance, he outlined the need to win their Test matches throughout November so they went into next month’s draw as top seeds.
‘There were no elephants in the room,’ revealed hooker Jamie George.
England’s new attack coach, Lee Blackett, was central to the early training sessions. It was his first time working with most of England’s squad and he focused on simple messaging.
The ‘catch point’ was one of the team’s initial work-ons. The ability for strike runners in the back line to identify where the opposition defence bites in and position themselves to catch the ball just outside the defensive press. It is one of the super-strengths of injured Gloucester centre Seb Atkinson, who will come back into the mix for the Six Nations.
England completed a first autumn clean sweep for four years, having begun with a thumping win over Australia
A comfortable defeat of Fiji was followed up by the euphoric downing of the All Blacks, for the first time at Twickenham since 2012
And a narrow victory over Argentina cemented England's place as one of the world's best
Clarity is one of Borthwick’s overarching principles. He gathered the likes of Ellis Genge and Will Stuart on the Sunday evening before the opening Test and told them they would not be in the starting team.
As British and Irish Lions players, they were disappointed by the news. They are used to starting for England but their roles in this campaign were going to be as destructive substitutes. And so the 'Pom Squad' was born.
In training, Borthwick would pick non-starters to run the role of key opposition players. Jack Kenningham wore the same scrum hat as Wallaby nuisance Fraser McReight and disrupted breakdowns at training ahead of the Australia opener. Starlet Noah Caluori leapt for contestable kicks in the style of Joseph Suaalii.
The aerial game became a key focus of England’s attack. In Tommy Freeman, Tom Roebuck and Freddie Steward, they have three of the best high-ball operators in the world and they proved to be the team’s most dangerous weapon.
Claiming back high balls is one of the most effective ways to create unstructured attack and England’s back-row forwards were tasked with arriving a close second to keep the ball in play. They watched basketball footage of 1990s Chicago Bulls superstar Dennis Rodman – a rebound specialist – to build their philosophy around pouncing on the loose ball.
It worked a treat, tries for Ben Earl and Henry Pollock against Australia coming from high balls won back by Roebuck.
Away from tactical meetings, the team gathered to watch their former team-mate Joe Marler in The Celebrity Traitors. They began their own game in camp, won by 'Traitor' scrum-half Alex Mitchell. Joe Heyes entertained the squad with history quizzes and Luke Cowan-Dickie organised visits to the local driving range.
Skipper Maro Itoje encouraged players to stand in front of the squad and talk about their lives away from rugby. Before the All Blacks game, young tyro Pollock spoke self-deprecatingly about his privileged upbringing, joking how he had it tough at one of the most prestigious private schools in the country in Stowe (£15,500 per term for boarders, plus VAT). Pollock has become one of the biggest characters in the squad at the age of just 20, repelling mickey-taking by team-mates with his brash confidence.
Henry Pollock has become one of the biggest characters in the squad at the age of just 20, repelling mickey-taking by team-mates with his brash confidence
In Tommy Freeman, Tom Roebuck (pictured) and Freddie Steward, they have three of the best high-ball operators in the world and they proved to be the team’s most dangerous weapon
In training, Pollock would often switch from back row to wing. Earl and Guy Pepper would do the same as Borthwick tried to grow the versatility of his players, allowing him to pursue a 6-2 split of forwards and backs on the bench.
Towards the end of the victory over the All Blacks, both Pollock and Earl found themselves standing out in the backline to cover injuries. Privately, Blackett set his players an attacking challenge for the showdown at Twickenham.
‘Lee actually challenged us to score a try from set-piece and a try from a counter,’ revealed George Ford, who has established himself as the team’s mainstay No 10. ‘He's made us really aggressive with our strike attack.’
Actor Tom Hardy and tennis star Emma Raducanu were in the royal box to witness the victory over New Zealand. The celebrations carried on until the early hours of Sunday morning, partying at Embargos nightclub in Chelsea with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso credited as one of the team’s best party-starters.
On the same night, Freeman posted a TikTok dance routine with Steward, Pollock and Fin Smith and the video went viral, receiving more than 10million views. It raised eyebrows from some of the sport’s traditionalists, who accused England of rubbing New Zealand noses in it.
However, Steward was keen to clarify the situation. ‘We actually filmed the dance on the Wednesday before the New Zealand Test, but Tommy took it upon itself to upload it after full time,' he said. 'It looked like we were being idiots and being slightly arrogant, so I was a bit p***ed off with Freemo.
‘It was filmed on the Wednesday. The timing was slightly inappropriate, but we were just having a laugh. You wouldn’t believe how bored we get sometimes in camp. We have a lot of free time in the evenings.
'We were in the room and thought we’d just have a bit of fun – not intending for it to go anywhere. Tommy thought he’d stitch us all up. I’m not the freest mover. It took us a good 20 minutes, I think – a couple of takes!’
Wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who scored tries against Fiji and Argentina, is credited as one of the team’s best party-starters
Emma Raducanu and Bridgerton star Simone Ashley were among the celebrity visitors to England's changing room as they racked up victories
Max Ojomoh talked his way into the team after calling out the defensive effort of England A, and turned it into a tryscoring start against Argentina last weekend
After a couple of days to recover, the team regathered last week, targeting a clean sweep of autumn victories. The squad had been ravaged by injuries so Max Ojomoh was given a shot in the centres.
The Bath midfielder had represented England’s A team during the campaign, where the coaches drilled down on the defensive effort required to step up to the first team. ‘Lazy’ was Ojomoh’s scathing appraisal of training footage of the A team’s speed to reset into the defensive structure.
He convinced the coaches that he had the mindset for a shot in the Test team, where Richard Wigglesworth’s 'Make A Difference' motto is at the heart of the philosophy.
Ojomoh repaid his selection with a man-of-the-match performance against Argentina, locking down England’s place as top seeds for the World Cup as No3 in the world rankings.
They have moved to the top of World Rugby’s chasing pack, hunting down South Africa and France as the game’s standard-bearers. And the exciting thing is that there is still much, much more to come.
