'Cadan Murley's Debut' - 2025 Six Nations: England squad to face Ireland - Makers and Breakers

England are considered to be the underdogs heading into Dublin, with the back-to-back Six Nations champions Ireland out for a history making third consecutive title. However, if there were ever a time to take on the Irish it would be now, as Ireland will be without their regular head coach Andy Farrell, who is instead set for a scouting mission as British & Irish Lions head coach. Simon Easterby takes up the mantle as interim head coach, with England eyeing the upset at the Aviva Stadium.

The last meeting between England and Ireland was a very memorable one, with the image of Marcus Smith slotting the crucial match winning drop goal etched into recent RFU folklore. The England win at the Allianz Stadium denied Ireland their Grand Slam in the 2024 Six Nations, and Steve Borthwick's side will be out to emulate their heroics of last year. There are plenty of talking points from Borthwick's squad announcement, with our latest 'makers and breakers' article outlying 10 key decisions that have been made for England's 2025 Six Nations opener.

There is a debutante within Steve Borthwick's starting XV, as Harlequins wing Cadan Murley gets set for his first senior Test match as an England international. There has long been plenty of buzz around the hot-stepping Harlequin, with the wing really coming into the Test match contention back in the 2022/23 Premiership season - which he ended as the league's top scorer with 15 tries.

Murley was around the England training camp ahead of the 2023 World Cup campaign, yet Borthwick did not award the wing with a place in the bronze medal winning side. An injury to Immanuel Feyi-Waboso opened up the door to Murley, with the Exeter Chiefs wing opting to undergo shoulder surgery and forgo any involvement within the 2025 Six Nations. Murley shone on a recent appearance for England A this past November, as he grabbed a brace of tries in the win over Australia A at the Stoop.

There has been plenty of hope and expectation around Tom Willis to gain an England involvement, with the Saracen in the form of his life down at the StoneX Stadium. According to Borthwick, Willis is 'desperate' to build upon his England debut with an extended run in the squad, as the back row has not featured for England since his sole cap. Willis' debut took place in a 2023 RWC warm-up match against Wales, with Borthwick releasing the number eight from his refined squad for the competition.

Willis has been in barnstorming form so far this season, with Saracens head coach Mark McCall picking him as the first choice number eight. This sees Ben Earl shifted out to the flanks in Saracens colours, and it will be interesting to see whether Borthwick does the same following Willis' involvement from the bench. It's great to see Borthwick double down on his mantra of picking players that are in form, with few back rows in better fettle than than of the bruising Saracens star.

History will be made at the Aviva Stadium for the England men's team, as Ben Curry gets set to start on the flanks alongside his twin brother Tom. This will be the first time that twin brothers have played for England at the same time, as the only previous England twins have been rckTS11Case

from the Red Roses (Emma & Jane Mitchell and Bryony & Poppy Cleall). The Curry brothers are back to batter and bruise the Irish opponents, with Ben ready for only his second Test start for England.

Ben Curry only featured once for England in the 2024 Autumn Nations Series, as he exploded off the bench in the opening round defeat to the All Blacks. Tom Curry was injured in that match, with Ben unable to play on the same England pitch as his brother. It will certainly be a proud day in the Curry household this Saturday, with Ben Curry set to build upon his impressive Sale Sharks form, and capitalise on Sam Underhill's injury absence to retain his place within Borthwick's plans.

The time is now for Freddie Steward to remind the England fans of his full capabilities, after the Leicester Tigers man was pushed to the fringes in recent months. Steve Borthwick has recently preferred George Furbank as his resident fullback, yet a fractured arm has curtailed any hopes of Six Nations rugby for the Northampton Saints man, with Steward back in the 15 jersey once again. Arguably's England's best asset under the high ball, Steward will be eager to emulate his areal expertise in Ireland, just as he did at the Allianz this past Autumn against South Africa.

The third round of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series was Steward's sole involvement of November, with the fullback set for his first start since the previous Summer tour of New Zealand. Borthwick has pulled the trigger for Steward to star in the 15 shirt, despite the speculation that Steward was going to slot in on the wing against Ireland. There were previously rumours that Marcus Smith may return to fullback for the first round of the Six Nations, but the Harlequin has since been named in the 10 shirt, with Steward's incoming start at 15 putting a close to that particular discussion.

The Northampton Saints man was in a spot of bother this past week, as Alex Mitchell took a brief break from the England squad to recover from a knee injury. However, the low-level injury concern has since come to fruition, and the Premiership champion has been named to command the attacking line from his regular spot in the England nine shirt. Mitchell has been chomping at the bit to return to the England squad, having battled back from an arduous neck injury that kept him on the sidelines earlier this season.

Mitchell has slotted straight back into where he left off, having leapfrogged the likes of Ben Spencer, Harry Randall, and Raffi Querke to retain his place in the starting XV. Leicester Tigers scrum half Jack van Poortvleit was a close contender for his starting jersey, yet a more severe injury to JVP ended the East Midlands tug-of-war over the nine shirt. Mitchell has been firing well for the Saints since his return, and is back for his first England minutes since the 2024 Summer tour of New Zealand.

There was plenty of excitement surrounding a Test debut for Henry Pollock, after the 20-year-old received a long awaited call-up into Steve Borthwick's senior squad a week ago. The Northampton Saints man was given the nod to join up with the group out in Girona, following the untimley injury to Alex Dombrandt. However, Pollock has not made the grade for the opening match of the 2025 Six Nations at a senior level.

Whilst Pollock would undoubtedly be disappointed having set himself such high standards, there is a saving grace for the highly rated back row. Pollock has been named to start for the England U20s side that will play Ireland in Cork, as the 2025 U20 Six Nations gets underway on Thursday evening. Whilst there won't be a senior debut for Pollock this week, another strong age-grade performance could well propel him back into the conversation for latter matches in the campaign.

Whilst the Asher Opoku-Fordjour is without a doubt the future of England's front row, the future will have to wait a little while longer before he gains consistent senior team involvments. Opoku-Fordjour has been riding a wave of momentum following his England debut this past Autumn, as he exploded onto the Test match scene in the closing match of the series against Japan. Opoku-Fordjour would then grab his first senior try for Sale the following week, with his Six Nations debut looking all the more likely.

With Dan Cole left out of the squad entirely for the 2025 Six Nations, Opoku-Fordjour has been jostling for position against Bath's Will Stuart and Leicester's Joe Heyes. Unfortunately for the young Sale man, he has missed out on the opening round's match day 23, with Stuart picked to start, and Heyes given the nod to be the replacement tight-head. It's a tough blow for the prop, who has also been left out of any England U20 plans, with his only possible fixture this weekend being a Prem Cup tie away to Caldy.

It's a tough one to take for England's most experienced fly half, as George Ford has not found a space in the match day 23 that will take on Ireland. With Marcus Smith now seemingly the nailed on 10 in Borthwick's eyes, Ford has been shunted down the halfback pecking order, and lost a seat amongst the replacements to the as yet underutilised Fin Smith.

Ford's latest England involvements were turbulent ones, with the fly half taking the brunt of the media's heat after crucial missed kicks in the Autumn against the All Blacks. The halfback rallied back with some solid performances for Sale, yet takes a back seat this week as Borthwick favours his duo of Smiths. With the opening match against Ireland being such a significant fixture for England's Six Nations campaign, question marks can certainly be raised regarding George Ford's omission this time around.

Having been the star of England's latest Autumn campaign, it is a real head-scratcher to see Ollie Sleightholme out of the fold for the trip to Ireland. It will be interesting to see whether the Northampton wing has sustained an as yet unreported injury, as Sleightholme was expected to fill the void on the wing that had been vacated by Manny Feyi-Waboso's injury. However, Cadan Murley has come out of the blue for his England debut, with a 6-2 replacements bench forcing Sleightholme out of the squad.

Sleightholme could rightly feel hard done by from the decision, after being England's man of the hour in their hard-fought Autumn Nations Series defeats to Australia and South Africa. The Northampton wing has had a meteoric England rise since his back-to-back caps on tour in New Zealand, with three tries in three Autumn Tests only rising his stock for a Six Nations involvement. However, this does not seem to be the case for the exciting 24-year-old in what is a tough call from Borthwick and co.

Wrapping up the 'breakers' is scrum half Ben Spencer, who looked to be on the cusp of a reoccurring spot in the England squad just a matter of months ago. In Alex Mitchell's absence, Spencer proved his worth as a reliable leader in the nine jersey, having built upon his newly acquired captaincy at Bath. However, the returning Mitchell pushed Spencer out of the initial 36-man 2025 Six Nations training squad, before Borthwick would later call upon Spencer to yo-yo back in after an injury re-shuffle.

Spencer was joined by Sale Sharks scrum half Raffi Querke at the England training camp, to boost the squad depth around the hotly contested nine jersey. However, Borthwick has opted for Mitchell as his starting scrum half for the opening round Test, with Bristol Bears man Harry Randall in support off the bench. It's another tough one for the 2019 Rugby World Cup finalist, with Spencer back to blue, black and white duties this weekend in the Premiership Rugby Cup.