Republic of Rugby's draft series rolled into the England squad this week with Steve Borthwick's tour of South Africa already eight weeks away, and the format - two hosts trading picks until they have built a rival 15 - did exactly the job a draft is meant to do: it spotlit where England are world-class and where the cupboard is concerningly thin.
The first pick of the night was effectively a gimme. 'With the first pick in the England 2026 draft, I select loosehead prop, the baby rhino, Ellis Genge,' the host went, before adding the line that framed the whole exercise: 'One of those positions where I think England have a clear first choice who is actually very, very good. And even on the world stage, I think he's very good. The drop-off from him is pretty big.'
With England's first Test against the Springboks pencilled in for 4 July, the second host responded by hoovering up the obvious anchors: Ben Earl in the No.8 jersey and captain Maro Itoje in the No.4. 'There's obviously a couple of other picks that you can have there, but I don't think, like you say with Ellis Genge, there's a little bit of a drop-off in that eighth-man position at the moment, especially with the fact that we're not allowed to pick Tom Willis,' he reasoned. On Itoje, he was quick to defend the captain's polarising profile: 'He gets a bit of stick from not just South African fans, but fans from elsewhere. I almost think he's doing his job perfectly. If he's wearing that number four jersey and he's loved by his own fans and hated by everyone else, that probably means he's doing his job really well.'
The more revealing picks came in tighter rooms. With Itoje and Earl off the board, the first host pivoted to Ollie Chessum at six rather than four - 'affectionately known by some as Ollie Chess Detoy' - explicitly invoking the Springbok template. 'He could play lock, but he played on the flank for the British and Irish Lions when England pushed France all the way and will be disappointed not to have come away with a win. He was awesome - the work-rate, the defensive shots, the ball-carrying. He is kind of in the mould of Pieter-Steph du Toit.'
The most striking call came in the second-row scramble. With Itoje and Chessum already off the board, Tom Willis ineligible under the no-overseas rule, and the natural 'next-best' English locks limited, Republic of Rugby installed Chandler Cunningham-South in the No.5 shirt. 'Tell me if this is a crap idea, but I'm thinking about putting Chandler Cunningham-South in the number five jersey - and I think that's actually exactly what I'm going to do, because the other options are just not there.'
The backline picks doubled down on a Test-match playmaking spine rather than power. Marcus Smith was bolted into the 15 jersey with the explicit aim of giving England 'a second playmaker ability' alongside whichever 10 Borthwick anoints. Henry Slade returned at 13 alongside Ollie Lawrence, with the host conceding the centre pairing was 'quite small' but trusting it for footwork against a heavy Boks midfield. Tommy Freeman and Cadan Murley filled the wings, and George Furbank was floated as a roll-the-dice fullback alternative if Borthwick opts for ambition over pragmatism.
The deeper takeaway, both hosts agreed, was about a profile rather than a single pick. 'England have got some good young players,' the second host noted. 'The age profile of the team, while we might not be cooking yet, I think they're going to keep improving. 2031's the year.' For a Borthwick squad walking into Pretoria and Johannesburg in eight weeks, the Republic of Rugby draft was less an exercise in fantasy selection and more a reminder that England's best XV is now built around four world-class anchors and a series of picks where the gap between first and second choice is uncomfortably tight.
