BRING IT ROME

Earl urges young stars to fill hole left by Faz & Co

Italy v England 2.15 pm

ADAM HATHAWAY in Rome

BACK-ROW Ben Earl has urged the latest generation of leaders to stand up and be counted for Steve Borthwick’s New England in Rome.

Saracens’ Earl was one of the success stories of England’s third-place finish at France 2023 and is a senior figure in a muchchanged squad.

Just six of the starting lineup, who beat Argentina 26-23 to claim bronze at the World Cup, are in the run-on XV against Italy, as retirements, unavailability and injury forced head coach Borthwick’s hand in selection.

Missing are totemic figures like Courtney Lawes and Owen Farrell, plus the likes of Ben Youngs, Manu Tuilagi, Tom Curry and Jonny May.

Lawes, Youngs and ex-skipper Farrell were huge voices in the camp and all three are Test centurions. But Earl, who wins his 26th cap today, has emerged as one of the new big noises and wants others to fill the hole left by Farrell and Co under new captain Jamie George.

Earl, at No.8 for the opener, said: “You look at the rugby IQ, the leadership IQ that left our squad after the third-fourth play-off.

“Ben, Courtney and Owen, just to name a few, there’s probably a big void that’s been left by those guys.

“That needs to be filled by some of us 20-30 cappers that need to start stepping up and thinking about the team as a more global aspect rather than in terms of individual performance.

“The environment’s been brilliant and, in terms of myself, what Jamie and the other leaders have done is they’ve lent on a few of us younger guys. I’ve really enjoyed having a little bit more of a senior role in this camp so far, but am also trying to be authentic to myself, and knowing that I’ve got to play well to keep my spot.”

England have a double World Cup winner on board now with former Irish fullback Felix Jones as defence coach. Jones was with the Springboks in 2019 and 2023, and Earl revealed he is on almost 24-hour call to the squad when they are in camp.

Earl added: “You can contact him at almost any minute of the day and he is going to flip open his laptop and have a chat with you.

“His commitment in making us a better team is second to none. He probably does more metres in training than any player, which is pretty impressive. You can see why everyone speaks so highly of him as coach, his knowledge of all facets of the game is unbelievable.”

England have not won a Six Nations opener since beating Ireland away in 2019. Skipper George had the team together for 10 days in Girona before they flew to Rome on Thursday, and he wants a fast start today.

He said: “We want to make a statement. We didn’t want that two to three days’ grace of dipping your toe in, having a feel, what do we think?

“It is the first game of the Six Nations, in Rome. We’re expecting them to come out all guns blazing, with smoke coming out of their ears, and a huge amount of emotion.

“We want to start this campaign with a win, first and foremost.

“The result is huge, but the way we go about it, laying foundations for what we want and putting a marker down, is also important.”