Lawrence and Daly omitted from England central contracts as Borthwick shapes World Cup squad
On 12 August 2026 Ollie Lawrence and Elliot Daly lost their England central contracts after Steve Borthwick omitted both players from his 25-man group a year before England’s World Cup campaign begins.
Neither Lawrence nor Daly featured in this summer’s three Nations Championship matches; both had been prominent during the Six Nations, and Daly was nursing an arm injury. Their absence are the most notable exclusions from Borthwick’s latest central-contract list and are presented as signals of his thinking ahead of next year’s tournament.
Northampton forward Alex Coles and Sale prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour are among the inclusions, with Opoku-Fordjour able to play on both sides of the scrum. Borthwick has chosen not to hand a central contract to Benhard Janse van Rensburg, who made his England debut over the summer.
Borthwick made five changes to the cohort who receive around £150,000 a season and over whom he has greater control. Joining Coles and Opoku-Fordjour as new central-contract recipients after missing out a year ago are Seb Atkinson, Guy Pepper and Jack van Poortvliet.
Also omitted alongside Lawrence and Daly are the injury-plagued Ben Curry, his Sale teammate Tom Roebuck, and Tom Willis, who has moved to Bordeaux. Those omissions follow a wider reshuffle of the centrally contracted group rather than a one-for-one replacement of specific positions.
Atkinson’s selection is cited as part of the explanation for Lawrence’s exclusion; Lawrence had starred in England’s autumn victory over the All Blacks last year. Fraser Dingwall, who also impressed against New Zealand, has similarly slipped down the pecking order since those performances.
Daly’s omission contrasts with Borthwick’s previous praise for his versatility and a November comment that tipped the 33-year-old to play an important role at the World Cup. Coles played in all 12 England Tests over the past year and started the summer matches against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina with Maro Itoje rested; Opoku-Fordvjour has eight caps and Atkinson has emerged as Borthwick’s first-choice inside-centre.
Tom Willis’s move to France was confirmed weeks after he was given a central contract and Guy Pepper is the beneficiary of the change, while Jack van Poortvliet started all three summer Tests with Alex Mitchell injured. Courtney Lawes, available again after a move to Sale from France, has made clear his intentions to go to the World Cup and Joe Marchant has also joined Sale. A larger 33-player squad will be selected for the tournament in Australia and November’s Nations Championship matches are on the horizon.