England lost to Italy in the Six Nations for the first time ever. Not the first time in a while — the first time, period, in a fixture England had won 32 straight times going back to 1991. That single result tells you most of what you need to know about England rugby’s biggest challenges this season: a team that entered 2026 as title favorites and left it searching for answers.
Steve Borthwick’s side came into the year on an 11-match winning streak. By March, they’d finished fifth in the Six Nations table with just one win from five matches, their worst finish in the tournament’s history. Here’s what went wrong, and what England still have to fix.
The Six Nations Collapse
England opened the 2026 Six Nations with a comfortable 48-7 win over Wales in front of 81,953 fans at Twickenham. It looked like the start of a title challenge. Instead, it was the high point of the campaign. A 31-20 defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield followed, undone in part by a red card to Henry Arundell, then a 21-42 loss to Ireland at home.
The nadir came in Rome, where Italy beat England 23-18 to record their first-ever win over the team in the fixture’s history. England led 18-10 with under 20 minutes to go before conceding two late penalties and a decisive try after Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje were both sin-binned. The campaign closed with a heartbreaking 48-46 defeat to France in Paris, a match that would have salvaged pride with a win but instead confirmed a fifth-place finish.
A Front-Row Injury Crisis
England’s problems weren’t only about form — injuries badly disrupted their pack through the tournament. Prop Fin Baxter was among several players sent away for rehabilitation at the team’s training camp in Girona rather than travelling with the matchday squad, alongside back-rower Ben Curry, centre Ollie Lawrence, winger Tom Roebuck, and fly-half Fin Smith at various points.
The depth problem was serious enough that Borthwick handed uncapped debuts to props Vilikesa Sela and Emmanuel Iyogun during the campaign, alongside back-rower Greg Fisilau. Throwing players into their first Test rugby during a title challenge is rarely the plan — it becomes necessary when the alternative is running out of frontline options entirely.
Discipline Under Pressure
A recurring theme through England’s toughest moments in 2026 was ill-discipline at critical points. Henry Arundell’s red card against Scotland swung a tight match decisively in the home side’s favor. Against Italy, sin-bins for both Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje in the final quarter handed the hosts a two-man advantage at exactly the moment England needed to close the game out.
For a team with genuine title ambitions, conceding cards in the biggest moments of the biggest games is the kind of pattern that separates good sides from great ones. Fixing it will be central to how Borthwick approaches team management through the rest of the year.
Questions Over Team Selection and Balance
England’s three-way fly-half competition between Fin Smith, George Ford, and Marcus Smith is, on paper, a selection luxury most international sides would envy. In practice, it also raises real questions about settled combinations and consistency, especially when a team is trying to find rhythm after a bruising campaign.
The RFU’s decision to refresh the Elite Player Squad in August 2026 — dropping established names like Ben Curry, Ollie Lawrence, Tom Willis, Elliot Daly, and Tom Roebuck from enhanced contracts while promoting younger players such as Guy Pepper and Alex Coles — signals that Borthwick is actively rethinking the shape of his squad rather than simply hoping for better luck next time.
Rebuilding Trust After a Public Vote of Confidence
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney issued a statement backing Steve Borthwick within hours of the Italy defeat, while the squad were still travelling to their training camp in Verona. Public votes of confidence in a head coach usually mean scrutiny has reached a serious level, and Borthwick now carries the weight of proving that backing was justified.
That pressure sits alongside the broader picture: England are building toward the 2027 Rugby World Cup, and a fifth-place Six Nations finish is not the platform anyone at the RFU wanted heading into that cycle. How the team performs in the 2026 autumn internationals will go a long way toward answering whether 2026’s Six Nations was a blip or a symptom of something more structural.
The Numbers Behind the Collapse
The scale of England’s 2026 Six Nations struggles is easier to grasp when you line up the results. After the 48-7 opening win over Wales at a sold-out Twickenham (81,953 in attendance), England lost 31-20 to Scotland at Murrayfield in front of 67,144 fans, then 21-42 to Ireland back at Twickenham. The Italy defeat came in front of 68,985 spectators at the Stadio Olimpico, before a 48-46 loss to France at the Stade de France in front of 78,728 fans closed out the campaign.
That’s four defeats from the final four matches, against a backdrop of some of the largest crowds the tournament attracts each year. The gap between the opening-day performance and everything that followed is exactly why so many pundits described this as England’s worst-ever Six Nations campaign, rather than simply a disappointing one.
The Weight of Expectation
Perhaps England’s biggest challenge is psychological as much as tactical. This is a squad that entered the year being talked about as genuine Grand Slam contenders, with Maro Itoje captaining a side full of experienced winners. Falling from that height to a historic first loss against Italy, and the sport’s oldest continuous winless record broken against them specifically, creates a different kind of pressure than simply rebuilding from a low baseline.
How Borthwick manages that gap between expectation and results — without losing the squad’s belief in the process — may be the single biggest factor in whether England can turn 2026 around before the World Cup arrives.
Finding Consistency Across Three Fly-Half Options
One challenge that doesn’t show up directly in the results column is settling on a first-choice fly-half. Fin Smith, George Ford, and Marcus Smith all featured through the 2026 campaign, giving Borthwick genuine strength in depth at the position but also raising questions about whether chopping and changing there contributed to the team’s lack of rhythm. Against Italy, it was Fin Smith who started and kept England in the contest for long periods before the collapse in the final quarter.
Settling on a first-choice pivot — or finding a way to rotate between all three without losing cohesion — will be one of the clearer selection challenges Borthwick has to solve before England can mount another serious title challenge.
Looking Ahead to the Autumn and Beyond
England’s schedule doesn’t get any easier after a campaign like this. The autumn internationals will be the first chance to show the Six Nations was an aberration rather than a genuine step backward, and every performance between now and the 2027 Rugby World Cup will be measured against that historic Italy defeat and the fifth-place finish that followed it.
There’s also a new context to navigate: the emerging Nations Championship format is reshaping the international calendar, adding another layer of scrutiny and opportunity for a team trying to rebuild its identity. How Borthwick blends his more experienced campaigners with the younger players now inside his enhanced squad will likely define whether England arrive at the World Cup as genuine contenders or as a team still searching for the form that made them favorites at the start of 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Historic Italy defeat: England lost to Italy for the first time ever in March 2026, ending a 35-year unbeaten run in the fixture.
- Worst-ever Six Nations finish: England finished fifth with one win from five matches, their lowest finish in the tournament’s history.
- Front-row injury crisis: Multiple prop injuries forced uncapped debuts during the campaign.
- Discipline problems: Red and yellow cards at critical moments cost England in both the Scotland and Italy defeats.
- Squad rebuild underway: The RFU refreshed England’s Elite Player Squad in August 2026, dropping several established names.
- Public backing for Borthwick: RFU CEO Bill Sweeney confirmed support for the head coach immediately after the Italy loss.
FAQs
Why did England lose to Italy for the first time in 2026?
England led 18-10 in the second half but conceded two late penalties and a decisive try after Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje were both sin-binned, losing 23-18.
Where did England finish in the 2026 Six Nations?
England finished fifth in the table with one win and four losses, their worst-ever finish in the Six Nations era.
Is Steve Borthwick still England’s head coach after the 2026 Six Nations?
Yes, RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney publicly backed Borthwick immediately after the Italy defeat.
What injuries affected England during the 2026 Six Nations?
England dealt with injuries across the front row and back row, including to prop Fin Baxter, back-rower Ben Curry, centre Ollie Lawrence, winger Tom Roebuck, and fly-half Fin Smith at various points.
How is England rebuilding after the 2026 Six Nations?
The RFU refreshed the Elite Player Squad in August 2026, promoting younger players like Guy Pepper and Alex Coles while dropping several established names from enhanced contracts.
Conclusion
England rugby’s biggest challenge this season isn’t really about talent — the squad Steve Borthwick has assembled is deep enough to compete with anyone. It’s about turning a historic collapse into a genuine turning point rather than the start of a longer slide, with the 2027 Rugby World Cup now firmly on the horizon. The autumn internationals will be the first real test of whether that rebuild is working.
