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Tom Hamilton, Senior Writer
England head coach Steve Borthwick has backed Henry Slade to deliver against New Zealand despite playing just 55 minutes of rugby this season and said he believes Ben Spencer can help Marcus Smith bring the “X-factor” to Twickenham on Saturday.
England are playing just their third match at Twickenham in 16 occasions on Saturday, but the pressure is on Borthwick’s team to deliver across the next four weekends as they host New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan. And despite Slade only recently recovering from shoulder surgery and playing just short of an hour for Exeter on Sunday, Borthwick is adamant the centre’s body can withhold the rigours of a high-octane Test match.
“I think the nature is that when you’ve had the shoulder surgery he’s had, he’s been able to be running on his feet,” Borthwick said. “He’s as fit as I’ve ever seen him. He’s in fantastic condition. He feels in great shape. He’s a player who is energised and full of energy. He’ll go really well on Saturday.”
England are without regular starters Ollie Chessum and Alex Mitchell for Saturday’s match through injury. Borthwick is hopeful Chessum will be fit for the Six Nations, so with him absent, George Martin gets the nod in the second-row while Spencer is handed the starting scrum-half role.
Spencer has six caps across six years, but this will be his first Test start for England on Saturday.
Borthwick has been impressed by the Bath scrum-half’s big game management, and also hopes he will dovetail nicely with Smith in the half-backs.
“This was a really tough selection decision because of the quality of the players,” Borthwick said. “Ben is such an experienced player. He’s played so many games in the Premiership and his performance in big games … You saw the way he played in the Premiership final. I thought he was absolutely outstanding. He’s a guy who knows how to deliver on the biggest of stages and I think that’s important.
“Ben has incredible super strength around his kicking game. His speed of ball from the breakdown has really stepped up as well, which is something we discussed with Bath and I think that’s a big, big step forward in Ben’s game. And there is also no doubt that Marcus is a player who can unlock defences, he sees space, he finds space and he attracts defenders to make decisions that they shouldn’t make. I want Marcus to bring all of his X-factor onto the pitch on Saturday.”
The other notable omission from the squad was Bath’s Sam Underhill. He had started all of England’s Test matches this year, but is not included in the matchday squad for Saturday.
“So Sam, at the start of the season he had ankle surgery, had two appearances off the bench and one start and in one of those appearances from the bench he didn’t get too much time because there was a sin-bin situation,” Borthwick said.
“When you have an ankle surgery you can’t be on your feet and so much of Sam’s game is that constant work rate, that’s one of his great X-factors in his game, that work rate that he has, that sharpness he has particularly in defence.”
Underhill was also a notable omission from the 17 enhanced contracts handed out by Borthwick and the RFU last week. They are a core group of players where England have a say over in how their seasons are managed. This team for Saturday combines 14 of those 17 players with nine who weren’t awarded the deals.
Despite this discrepancy in the squad, Borthwick says everyone is on the same page.
“I’ve been really clear with all the players when I spoke to everybody individually and when I spoke to the team collectively is that I’ll pick what I believe the right 23 is to get the result of the weekend and that will be irrespective of enhanced EPS or not,” Borthwick said.
“I pick the 23 I believe is the right 23. I believe we’ve got a real competitive squad in some positions we’ve got a lot of depth and each player has an individual development plan in what we’re looking for and what I want them to do to give them the best opportunity for selection. This is just a foundation, I expected it to grow, and all the players know that, and the players know that I will pick the 23 I think it’s the right one regardless.”