ALEX COLES
Alex Coles has steadily evolved from an athletic academy prospect into one of England’s most dependable second-row options. A product of the Northampton Saints academy after early rugby at Newmarket and Shelford, he made his senior debut in 2018 while still a teenager, and has since become a mainstay in a Saints side competing at the top end of English and European rugby.
His club progression has mirrored Northampton’s resurgence. Coles played a key role in their 2023–24 Premiership title win, starting the final against Bath, and earned selection in the Premiership Team of the Season. His athletic profile also translated in Europe, highlighted by tries in both the 2024–25 Champions Cup quarter-final win over Castres and a two-try performance in the final defeat to Bordeaux.
Internationally, Coles has remained firmly in the England conversation since his Eddie Jones call-up in 2022. He earned his debut that year against Argentina and has accumulated 14 caps, featuring across the Borthwick era in both the Six Nations and Summer tours, including over in New Zealand in 2024.
Most recently, he reinforced his standing with a try-scoring performance in England’s dramatic defeat to France at the conclusion of the 2026 Six Nations. Still only in his mid-twenties, Coles continues to hover on the edge of a settled England pack, consistently in and around selection without yet fully cementing himself as an undisputed starter.
GUY PORTER
Guy Porter arrived in England’s Test picture as one of the more unusual modern midfield stories: a London-born centre who developed his game in Australia before returning to make his mark with Leicester Tigers. After early rugby at Rosslyn Park, he moved to Sydney at age seven, progressed through Sydney University, and even captained the side while studying law, before earning a Super Rugby opportunity with the Brumbies.
Leicester moved quickly to sign him in 2020, and Porter soon became a valued, high-work-rate centre in the Tigers system. His impact peaked during Leicester’s 2021–22 Premiership-winning campaign, where his defensive reliability and physical edge made him a key figure in Steve Borthwick’s side. That form earned him an England call-up under Eddie Jones in 2022, where he reunited with the then assistant coach of Borthwick.
Porter made his Test debut in July 2022 against Australia in Brisbane, in the extra special element of being back where his rugby journey began. He featured in England’s series win, and would go on to score his only international try (to date) in that year’s Autumn Nations Series against Japan. Across 2022–23 he earned five caps in total, including involvement in squads during Borthwick’s early tenure.
However, his England trajectory stalled quickly. He missed out on the 2023 Rugby World Cup entirely after failing to make the final squad, despite being involved in wider training groups, and his last appearance came in a warm-up defeat to Wales in August 2023. Injuries and selection changes followed, and in 2024 he was released by Leicester before announcing his retirement on medical advice due to issues with concussion at just 27-years-old.
