England head coach Steve Borthwick has confirmed that Owen Farrell will skipper his squad for the Rugby World Cup, with two vice-captains below him.
Borthwick announced a 41-strong training squad on Friday morning that included five uncapped players and has now confirmed Farrell as his skipper.
Ellis Genge and Courtney Lawes are named as Farrell‘s vice-captains as the clock ticks down to England‘s Rugby World Cup opener against Argentina.
Farrell gets the nod
Farrell was in impressive form for Saracens in 2022/23 as they claimed the Premiership silverware, and Borthwick is pleased with his three key leaders.
“I’m delighted to announce the England Rugby World Cup training squad,” he said of the squad in general before applauding Farrell, Genge and Lawes.
“I think it’s a great blend of experience and youth I’m also excited to announce the England Rugby World Cup squad will be captained by Owen Farrell, and vice-captains will be Ellis Genge and Courtney Lawes.
“I think we’ve got some great leaders in the team. I think that all of them are fantastic players. I met with Owen about 10 days ago. We spent about two hours walking around fields outside Harpenden, talking about everything we wanted to do with his team, everything we wanted to do with this programme, what we wanted to achieve.
“The passion in him, I think he’s a fantastic leader; the players have enormous respect for him, and I’m looking forward to the full squad getting together on Sunday night here at the Lensbury (Resort) and start training on Monday morning.”
There are five uncapped players in the squad as Theo Dan, Tom Willis, Tom Pearson, Cadan Murley and Val Rapava-Ruskin all make the 41-player cut.
However, Borthwick has opted to leave out Gloucester-bound back-row Zach Mercer, Northampton scrum-half Alex Mitchell and Bath flank Ted Hill.
Message to players
Addressing the likes of scrum-half Mitchell and number-eight Mercer, as well as other men who missed out on the 41, Borthwick’s message was clear.
“There are a number of players I have had conversations with who have missed out on selection for this squad,” he said.
“Every one of them, I have said, ‘you need to be ready for an opportunity to come in’, and one thing that is consistent in every World Cup, every one of those preparation periods, there is something that happens and somebody from outside the squad comes in.
“So the message to every player is ‘Be ready. Be ready if your opportunity comes to be ready to take it.’”
Borthwick will confirm his final squad of 33 players on August 7 ahead of four World Cup warm-up games – against Wales (twice), Ireland and Fiji.
As well as facing Argentina in their World Cup opener on September 9, England’s other Pool D opponents in France will be Japan, Samoa and Chile.
READ MORE: England announce official Rugby World Cup training squad with Zach Mercer omitted
The article Steve Borthwick’s message for dropped players as Owen Farrell named England captain at Rugby World Cup appeared first on Planetrugby.com.
Article courtesy of
Source link
