RFU reiterates support for Borthwick to lead England into World Cup despite autumn concerns

The Rugby Football Union has given Steve Borthwick unequivocal backing to lead England into next year’s World Cup even if the side flop this autumn. In September Borthwick’s contract was extended to after the 2028 Six Nations to avoid speculation in the buildup to the tournament.

England endured their worst ever Six Nations earlier this year and the head coach arrives at the autumn campaign under pressure after five defeats in the last seven matches. The RFU extended Borthwick’s deal in part to prevent distraction for the coaching team in the run-up to the World Cup. That autumn schedule includes matches against Australia, Japan and New Zealand as well as a rankings match on the inaugural Nations Championship finals weekend.

Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, said: "We’re committed to Steve, we’ve extended his contract to the middle of 2028," and added: "We believe in what he’s doing. We had a difficult Six Nations this year, we accept that, but we just want to see continued progress and we’re backing him to get that done." Sweeney also explained the rationale for the timing of the extension: "We just felt that going into a World Cup is a tough enough challenge anyway. We wanted our coaching team just to be focused on the World Cup, not be thinking about, ‘oh, I don’t have a role lined up’ and be thinking about that in the buildup. It was to take away any distraction around that, and take that same coaching team through into the transition into the Six Nations in 2028. That was the sole intention. It was the same process with the women’s team."

After England’s first ever defeat by Italy in March the RFU offered conditional support for Borthwick and required improvements in the summer Tests against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina. Sweeney provided qualified backing again after the Six Nations and Borthwick was subsequently endorsed by an anonymous post-championship review. Nearly four years ago Eddie Jones was sacked after an autumn that included a defeat by Argentina, a victory over Japan, a draw with the All Blacks and a defeat by South Africa that provoked boos at Twickenham.

England then lost heavily to the Springboks, thrashed Fiji and edged past Argentina to sit third in the northern hemisphere Nations Championship pool, while discipline remained an issue with 14 yellow cards and one red in 2026 to date. "It was a really thorough in-depth review," Sweeney said. "It happens after every competition. The mini version happens virtually after every single game, but we have a review after every comp. We were clearly very disappointed about the Six Nations this year. Nobody wanted to see that performance. It did highlight some areas that required action that happened, were followed up on, and we’re confident that that’s had an effect."

Fin Smith completed a key training session on Wednesday and is primed to line up against the Wallabies after recovering from a calf problem, with England’s defence coach Richard Wigglesworth reporting: "Fin trained today and got through all right so we are cautiously optimistic that he’s available for selection." Wigglesworth added: "We’ll need to see what the next 24 hours are like in terms of his reaction but he did well today. We’re training Friday, so obviously he’s got to train then, but we’ll know before then the state of availability. We’re pretty optimistic." Wigglesworth also revealed that the 200m world silver medallist and five-times European champion sprinter Amy Hunt visited the squad. Back-rower Ben Earl said: "He looked good. Obviously, we know Fin, he’s a class, class player. He’s been in unbelievable form for a number of years. He deserves to be given the time to give himself the best chance to play. He looked very good today and I’m really looking forward to seeing him go." The 24-year-old has started the last five England Tests and is Borthwick’s first-choice fly-half.

Smith’s fitness and selection will be settled in the next 24 hours, and England head into an autumn series that pits them against Australia, Japan and New Zealand and includes a rankings match on the inaugural Nations Championship finals weekend.