England head coach Steve Borthwick has awarded enhanced central contracts to 25 players for the 2026-27 season, reshaping his squad with just over a year until the Rugby World Cup. Five players — Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Alex Coles, Guy Pepper, Jack van Poortvliet and Seb Atkinson — receive the deals for the first time, signalling Borthwick’s evolving selection priorities after England’s mixed results this year.

Ben Curry, Elliot Daly, Ollie Lawrence and Tom Roebuck have lost their contracts, with injuries affecting Curry and Daly and reduced selection roles affecting Roebuck and Lawrence. Tom Willis is also ineligible after agreeing to join Bordeaux; the contracts are worth about £150,000 annually and give Borthwick greater control over players’ medical and conditioning programmes, ahead of November fixtures against Australia, Japan and New Zealand.