England: Select your best starting XV from 2016 and 2025 squads
Borthwick was missing many stars from the summer tour of Argentina and the United States as it coincided with the British and Irish Lions’ trip to Australia.
A relatively inexperienced squad won all three matches in this tour to continue the momentum of England’s fine end to the Six Nations, which started with a 27-22 defeat of Ireland in Dublin.
This remains their only loss of 2025; Their home test against Argentina on Sunday completes England’s schedule for the calendar year.
These displays in the summer have only increased the competition for places, as evidenced by the non-competitions against the All Blacks.
Fin Smith, England’s first-choice scrum-half for most of the Six Nations, did not feature in Saturday’s 23rd match; Lions trio Tommy Freeman, Ollie Chessum and Elliot Daly are among a group of players with legitimate allegations of involvement due to their respective injuries.
XV – start against New Zealand (15 November 2025): Freddie Stewart; Tom Roebuck, Ollie Lawrence, Fraser Dingwall, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Fin Baxter, Jamie George, Joe Heyes, Maro Itoje (captain), Alex Coles, Guy Pepper, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Curry, Henry Pollock, Ben Spencer, Marcus Smith.
