England’s favoured back three confronts selection headache for Borthwick after Australia rout
England fielded Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tommy Freeman and George Furbank as a back three in an emphatic win over Australia in an autumn Test on Sunday, but injuries and possible rest selections now put that combination in doubt.
The trio had not started together for two years and it was the first occasion they wore 11, 14 and 15 respectively; England’s coaches and supporters view them as a potential force for next year’s World Cup provided they can all stay fit. Feyi-Waboso has been ruled out for the rest of the autumn campaign with an ankle injury, Furbank is carrying a groin problem that will keep him sidelined against Japan, and Borthwick is considering resting players so Freeman may sit out on Saturday, potentially producing a different back three against Eddie Jones’s side.
Feyi-Waboso’s afternoon was a blend of attacking promise and physical setback: his disallowed try came about 90 seconds after he entered the action when a gap created by Fin Smith briefly opened up, and across 40 minutes he made 130 metres from eight carries. The ankle injury is the most significant downside of England’s performance against Australia and adds to a pattern of interruptions to his England career since his early-2024 debut.
Availability issues for Feyi-Waboso extend beyond the current tour: by the end of the year he will have managed 17 appearances in England’s 36 matches since and including his debut, and he has previously missed the Six Nations with a hamstring problem and a Championship campaign with a shoulder injury. He has not recorded more than five consecutive starts for England in his career.
Furbank returned to the England side for the first time since the 2024 autumn victory over Japan and produced a graceful display, including a break that set up Jack van Poortvliet’s try; his comeback had been delayed earlier in the year by appendicitis. His groin issue rules him out of the Japan match but the hope is that he will be available to face the All Blacks on Saturday week.
Tommy Freeman completed what the article describes as a “second debut” in the same match, having been overlooked for the first 12 months of Borthwick’s tenure; he has started the past three matches back on the right wing after previous experiments with him at outside-centre. England’s coaching staff have cycled through numerous back-three combinations in the two years since the trio last lined up together, with Freddie Steward and Tom Roebuck previously supplying aerial strength.
England’s recent instability in selection coincided with their poorest Six Nations campaign this year: during that competition Feyi-Waboso was injured throughout, Furbank was overlooked and Freeman was often used at centre, and none of the three featured in the back three for England’s first defeat by Italy. With 11 months before England’s World Cup opener against Tonga, Borthwick now has his preferred back three in view, but their fitness across the remainder of the autumn schedule will determine whether that unit can be taken to next year’s tournament.