England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) has no plans to open discussions over a new contract for Steve Borthwick “for the foreseeable future” with the head coach’s deal due to expire after the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Borthwick has turned around England’s fortunes in 2025, overseeing an 11-match winning run that includes a first win over the All Blacks at Twickenham in 13 years.
Borthwick’s side had started the year seventh in the world rankings and lost their opening game of the Six Nations to Ireland, but enter 2026 with momentum as they look to challenge at the tournament in Australia in two years time.
The precedent has been set by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) that head coaches generally do not enter World Cups on expiring deals: Stuart Lancaster was given a long-term deal in 2014, while Eddie Jones was extended until 2021 a year and a half before the 2019 World Cup in Japan. John Mitchell, who steered the Red Roses to triumph on home soil earlier this year, is under contract until next summer.
Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, has nonetheless said that the organisation currently has no plans to extend Borthwick – even if they are encouraged by the progress the team have made.
“We obviously back this coaching group and are really happy with it,” Sweeney said. “We haven’t had those conversations [about his contract] now, and we are not planning to in the foreseeable future, no.
“We are obviously delighted with the direction it is going in. We actually saw it in 2024. It’s easy with hindsight now, but those narrow losses in 2024, we knew the trajectory the team was on. We were confident at that stage that it was going in the right direction.
“I think what you’ve seen this year with the depth that the squad is building, the style of play he is developing, we are really happy with that. We haven’t got into any discussions about post-27, the contract carries on past the World Cup. It’s premature, there is no reason for him to think, ‘go to 27 and that’s it’. We just haven’t had those discussions yet.”
The decision to give Lancaster a long-term extension backfired with the head coach’s position made untenable by the pool stage exit from the 2015 World Cup, while Jones was extended again in 2020 but did not see out the entirety of that contract as Borthwick came in to replace him in December 2022.
The former lock led England to the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup using a limited gameplan and has since developed a new-look team that will target a first Six Nations success since 2020 when they reassemble in February.
Beyond that tournament, July will see the launch of the new Nations Championship, with England due to play the Springboks and Fiji in South Africa before heading to Argentina for a Test with the Pumas in three consecutive weekends. Sweeney says Borthwick and his squad are comfortable with what looks a demanding itinerary.
“I spoke to the Australians and their regular travel routines in the south, and you rely heavily on charter flights and making sure the players are looked after as much as possible,” Sweeney explained.
“I think the attractiveness of the Nations Championship as a competition outweighs some of those concerns but that’s why you ended up with neutral venues for some of the matches, to reduce that travel constraint there. I talk to Steve all the time about this, ever since he’s been on board about the direction of travel with the Nations Championship so nothing has been a surprise there and the players are up for it.”
