For South Africa’s “bomb squad” read England’s “Pom squad”, a nickname full-back Freddie Steward revealed to Sky Sports this week.
Steve Borthwick’s England host New Zealand at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday in their third Autumn Nations Series fixture, again arriving with a bench loaded for impact.
The South Africa side that defended their 2019 World Cup title popularised the “bomb squad” idea: holding some of your best players on the bench and unleashing them together in the second half to change a game. Borthwick’s England have visibly begun to adopt a similar tactic with success.
In both of England’s wins so far this month, against Australia and Fiji, Borthwick introduced five forward replacements at the same moment while contests were still in the balance, and his side went on to secure victory. For the All Blacks test, six forwards are named on the bench again, including the likes of Ellis Genge, Tom Curry, Chandler Cunningham-South and Henry Pollock.
“The Pom squad, we’ve been calling them,” Steward told Sky Sports at England’s Pennyhill Park training base. “They’re a brilliant bunch of guys. You’ve seen over the last couple of years how influential and how important those guys have been and the impact they can have on the score.
“A lot of Test matches are really tight going into that last 20 or 30 minutes so they’re just as important as the starters, as they always are. It’s a massive impact they can have off the bench.
“You can sense the buzz, the excitement around the place. When we reassembled on Sunday night and we all sat in the meeting room and you see the New Zealand badge on the screen and the challenge that’s coming, that gave the boys a bit of excitement.
“It’s fair to say [England have turned a corner]. We have been really good over the last couple of months. The summer was a great opportunity to really build on that squad depth that we have. You see the rotation, the players that are available. We’re in a really good place. But saying that, New Zealand is a serious challenge.
“That’s news to me [that England are the bookies’ favourites]. I assumed we’d be going in as underdogs. We know the quality that they have in their team, the strength they have everywhere, particularly in that back-three and the ballplayers they have. We will have to be at our best to get a result.”
Loosehead prop Fin Baxter returns to the starting XV this weekend, having started against Australia before coming off the bench against Fiji. The 23-year-old says replacement impact has been a central focus.
“The last quarter of the game is something we’ve definitely put big emphasis on and we’ve definitely improved since last autumn,” Baxter told Sky Sports. “We are very good at closing out games now, and it’s something we will look to do.
“Our bench comes on and makes a serious impact. That’s what we talk about during the week. I was confused as to why it was called the ‘Pom squad’ at the start of the week, and it’s because against Australia was when we first did it. The boys are raring to go and when they come on together they hype each other up and it’s cool to see.”
New Zealand forwards coach Jason Ryan also addressed the media and, responding to suggestions that northern hemisphere sides now have greater belief against this New Zealand side, encouraged that confidence. He also acknowledged the change in England’s approach since their trio of defeats to New Zealand in 2024: their bench tactics.
“We respect every team that’s in front of us and I think that Test matches, they’re all won differently,” Ryan said. “I’m sure we’ve got a couple of weaknesses that they’ve seen but we’ll prepare as deep as we can as we know they will be, they’re incredibly well coached.
“Good on them if they’ve got confidence, we have too. That’s what you want from all your players when they go out in the fiercest arena. I hope so [England have stronger belief they can beat us], it’s great.
“We just want to get about our work and play what’s in front of us and trust our skills. That’s an important part of Test footy. The momentum, it shifts so quick, so you’ve got to make the most of the opportunities.
“They’ve changed a little bit in how they like to break teams down a little bit. They’ve used the 6-2 bench split a little bit. They’ve sort of found a little bit of identity in that and what is potentially working for them. That’ll probably be one of the things.”
England team to face New Zealand
Starting XV: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Fin Baxter, 2 Jamie George, 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 Alex Coles, 6 Guy Pepper, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Marcus Smith.
England’s Autumn Nations Series schedule
November 1
England 25-7 Australia – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
November 8
England 38-18 Fiji – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
November 15
England vs New Zealand – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (3.10pm)
November 23
England vs Argentina – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (4.10pm)