{"id":986689,"date":"2026-05-26T21:50:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/986689\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T21:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:50:26","slug":"england-latest-borthwicks-worrying-injury-list-ahead-of-july-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/986689\/","title":{"rendered":"England latest: Borthwick’s worrying injury list ahead of July Tests"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Barbarians<\/a><\/p>\n

England head coach Steve Borthwick is facing a number of concerning injury blows ahead of the Nations Championship, with as many as 12 players either sidelined or nursing knocks.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last week, England held a three-day alignment camp ahead of their July Tests against the Springboks, Fiji and Argentina, spread across three continents, but a number of players were either already confirmed as unavailable or not considered for selection due to injuries.<\/p>\n

These will leave Borthwick sweating ahead of a crucial block, too, with England<\/a> also coming into the July campaign off the back of their worst-ever Six Nations with just one win from five Tests.<\/p>\n

England\u2019s injury concerns ahead of Nations Championship<\/p>\n

Tighthead Will Stuart was already ruled out of the summer tour following an Achilles injury back in December, but he is not the only long-term issue Borthwick is dealing with. Trevor Davison, Bevan Rodd, Will Muir, Ben Curry and Elliot Daly were all not considered for selection ahead of the camp as a result of respective knee, shoulder, hamstring and arm issues, and look set to miss the rest of the current PREM Rugby season too.<\/p>\n

Harlequins prop Fin Baxter is also confirmed to be out of the summer tour, with the loosehead set for another operation on a foot injury sustained back in December. He was initially expected to be fit this month, but the surgery will see him sidelined until the start of next season. Baxter also previously missed the Six Nations campaign.<\/p>\n

Fin Baxter OUT! Ranking five England loosehead options as Steve Borthwick to \u2018stress-test\u2019 depth chart in Nations Championship<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Greg Fisilau and Sam Underhill were also not considered for the alignment camp as a result of injuries, with Fisilau not featuring for Exeter since their defeat to Gloucester and Underhill picking up a knock in Bath\u2019s Investec Champions Cup win over Northampton Saints, but there is currently no timeline on any return to play.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the three-day camp at Pennyhill Park, it has since emerged that Alex Mitchell suffered a hamstring injury, and will now also miss the rest of the PREM Rugby run-in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s pulled it, and he\u2019s done a decent job on it,\u201d said Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a push to get him any rugby for us this season, but I don\u2019t know about England\u2019s timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Curry also suffered concussion symptoms following training with England.<\/p>\n

Freddie Steward is also a possible injury concern after undergoing a thumb operation in the wake of Leicester Tigers\u2019 PREM win over Sale Sharks, but he is not expected to be out for too long.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cFred sustained a thumb injury at the end of the Sale game that has unfortunately required surgery,\u201d said Tigers head coach Geoff Parling. \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful he\u2019ll be back before the seasons end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full-back was, however, included in the 42-man squad last week.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Maro Itoje and Ben Spencer could be rested this summer, with Borthwick<\/a> revealing both players left last week\u2019s three-day training camp early.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll make decisions when the time) comes to announce the squad,\u201d the head coach told reporters last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaro was in camp yesterday, and, as agreed, went home last night. Ben Spencer also came in yesterday and went home last night. We treat players individually and that\u2019s what was right for those players.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair are not currently injured.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Six Nations Team of the Championship revealed as Red Roses dominate selection<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

But, in welcome news, George Martin and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso are all back in the picture again following lengthy spells away from the pitch with respective calf, shoulder and hamstring issues that ruled them out of the Six Nations.<\/p>\n

Luke Cowan-Dickie is also nearing a return to fitness, after he was brought into England camp last week to continue his rehab on an arm injury.<\/p>\n

England injury list in full<\/p>\n

Rehabilitation:<\/strong> Luke Cowan-Dickie (arm)<\/p>\n

Long-term issues:<\/strong> Fin Baxter (foot), Bevan Rodd (shoulder), Will Stuart (Achilles), Trevor Davison (knee), Billy Searle (hamstring), Will Muir (shoulder), Ben Curry (hamstring) and Elliot Daly (arm), Alex Mitchell (hamstring)<\/p>\n

Concerns:<\/strong> Greg Fisilau (knee), Sam Underhill (unknown) and Freddie Steward (thumb)<\/p>\n

Possible rest:<\/strong> Maro Itoje and Ben Spencer<\/p>\n

Recent returners:<\/strong> Tom Curry, George Martin and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Stuart Barnes \u2018supports\u2019 Benhard Janse van Rensburg selection as England avoid \u2018crazily inflammatory\u2019 Springboks situation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England head coach Steve Borthwick is facing a number of concerning injury blows ahead of the Nations Championship,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":986690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4102],"tags":[393,126,225,90462,12,4151,79,26349,16,15],"class_list":["post-986689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-england","tag-features","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-steve-borthwick","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116643096976216615","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=986689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/986690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=986689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=986689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=986689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}