HALFBACKS
10. Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
9. Gus Warr (Sale Sharks)
Onto fly half now, and Fin Smith looks primed and ready for an England call-up, after marching the Saints on to the top of the Premiership table. Smith is one of the league’s fastest rising talents across any position, and Steve Borthwick is expected to award the 21-year-old with his England debut, after the Northampton man missed out on the Rugby World Cup squad. Couple his outrageous talents with a vacancy amongst the England halfbacks, and Smith would be more than happy to fill the void left by Owen Farrell for the 2024 Six Nations squad.
As mentioned earlier, scrum half Gus Warr is on the radar of both England and Scotland, with Gregor Townsend eager to utilise his talents for the 2024 Six Nations. However, following the international retirement of Ben Youngs, there is a gap in the England scrum half pecking order, that could well open up for Warr, should Borthwick call upon the Sale Sharks man. The 24-year-old packs an explosive first step, and can ship the ball out to his receivers at a rapid rate of knots. Rarely seen a step away from the play, Warr could well be bossing his forwards around for either side, when England travel to Murrayfield to take on Scotland next month.
FRONT ROW
1. Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
2. Sam Riley (Harlequins)
3. Ehren Painter (Exeter Chiefs)
Moving onto the forwards, and it looks like the future of the England scrum could well come out of the Twickenham Stoop in the foreseeable future. Harlequins have a tremendous conveyer-belt of young English front-rowers coming through, with Nathan Jibulu worthy of an honourable mention. Starting with Fin Baxter, the loose-head prop has been gaining valuable tutelage from veteran England prop Joe Marler, over at Quins. Steadily progressing into a test-match level player, Baxter’s engine is his x-factor, and he is rarely seen taking a backwards step in the collision.
Baxter’s Quins teammate Sam Riley has also been chipping away for an international call-up, to emulate his fellow Harlequins hooker Jack Walker. Despite not getting a great deal of game time at the Rugby World Cup, Walker’s England experience has lifted Riley to match him in training sessions, with Riley now often taking the starting jersey for the weekend. A technically astute scrummager with a dart of a line-out throw, Riley excels at the set-piece and could well get the nod to follow in Walker’s footsteps, into the wider England training squad.
Slotting in at tight-head prop is Ehren Painter, who is amongst one of the Premiership’s most revered crash-ball carriers. Near unstoppable from a short range drive, at 6ft 4″ and 134kg, Painter is a monstrous presence for any defence that travels down to Sandy Park. The Exeter Chiefs man has scored three tries already this season, and quickly settled into life in Devon following his arrival from Northampton Saints. With Kyle Sincker heavily linked with a move to Toulon, and Dan Cole’s international future limited at 36-years-old, Painter could well be England’s next big thing, and join the power struggle with Will Stuart for the tight-head spot.
CONTINUES ON PAGE 3