Tommy Freeman could move to outside centre for England’s first Test of the autumn against Australia, with Ollie Lawrence expected to miss out on a place in the starting XV.
Steve Borthwick is ready to lean heavily on the cohesion of Northampton Saints by picking one of their players at scrum half and in both centre positions for Saturday’s game at Twickenham.
The Times understands that Freeman is being considered to start in the No13 jersey this week, outside Fraser Dingwall, George Ford and Alex Mitchell. If that comes to fruition, the back three would be Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tom Roebuck on the wings, and Freddie Steward at full back. There would therefore be no place for Marcus Smith, the uncapped Noah Caluori, Henry Arundell or Cadan Murley in the starting XV.
Lawrence looks set to miss out despite starting the domestic season well for Bath
PHIL MINGO/SHUTTERSTOCK
Freeman has made public his desire to start at centre, moving in from the wing where he has won most of his 21 caps, and played for the British & Irish Lions in the Test series against Australia last summer. At 6ft 4in and weighing a touch over 16st, the 24-year-old has the power to break the gainline from midfield.
Freeman’s most recent cap for England came at outside centre in the 68-14 win over Wales to end the Six Nations in March, next to Dingwall, Fin Smith and Mitchell. Lawrence was injured, having ruptured his achilles against Italy, hence Freeman’s positional switch for that match in Cardiff.
Mitchell, who is set to resume his scrum-half starting role having returned from the Lions tour, is confident that Freeman will do well at centre.
Mitchell, left, and Freeman have developed a great understanding of each other’s game during their time at Northampton
DAVID ROGERS/GETTY IMAGES
“I think it will be good,” Mitchell said. “He’s a quality player who has a lot of facets to his game with his power and how he works in the air as well. He will be quality there. He will be as good at 13 as he is on the wing. It’s a different position and he appreciates that, but not too much changes with him — he will just want to get the ball in his hands and try to get over people and get past people. It’s going to be exciting to see him go there and see how he goes and pushes on. His confidence is through the roof and his form is amazing.
“We knew early days when he came through the academy that he’s got everything. He’s got the speed, the power, the height. He understands the game. We know that if he puts that all together he’s one hell of a player. He can run over people, go around people, he is quality in the air and really good defensively. He’s a fantastic player to have with Northampton and England.”
Borthwick puts a lot of value on cohesion and ready-made partnerships, so it is no surprise that he is using the Northampton template for the first Test of the autumn against the Wallabies — especially with limited preparation time. He would also be picking a very similar back division to the last one he chose when every player was available. In that Wales match Elliot Daly wore the No11 jersey — but he is not yet fit having broken an arm on the Lions tour to Australia — and Marcus Smith started at full back.
Lawrence, however, has been in dominant form for Bath having returned to fitness, so if he were to miss out he would be unlucky.
England have had barely any training time before this Test. They sacrificed their usual training camp in Girona, Spain, in order to hand back the players to their clubs for one more Gallagher Prem match after the RFU organised this Wallabies game outside of World Rugby’s international window.
England met for just three days last week, mostly for meetings, and then reconvened on Sunday night in Surrey to start their preparations in earnest on Monday.
Full England squad
Forwards
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Nick Isiekwe (Saracens)
Jack Kenningham (Harlequins)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)Backs
Henry Arundell (Bath Rugby)
Noah Caluori (Saracens)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby)
Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks)
Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)Rehabilitation: Elliot Daly (Saracens), George Martin (Leicester Tigers), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers).Fixtures
England v Australia, Saturday, 3.10pm
England v Fiji, November 8, 5.40pm
England v New Zealand, November 15, 3.10pm
England v Argentina, November 23, 4.10pm
