South Africa-born Benhard Janse van Rensburg is set to make his England debut this summer after being named in a training squad for the first time.
The 29-year-old was born in Pretoria and played for the South Africa Under-20s, but has never won a senior cap and relocated to England in 2021 when he signed for London Irish.
Now a Bristol Bear, Janse van Rensburg’s five-year residency period will complete on 8 July, meaning he will not be eligible to face his native South Africa when England visit on 4 July, but he could make his debut against Fiji in Liverpool – at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium – a week later.
His inclusion appears to be at the direct expense of Ollie Lawrence, the 38-cap centre who has become England’s regular No 13 when fit, a caveat that has become all-too important.
The Bath back suffered an Achilles injury that ruled him out of last year’s British and Irish Lions tour, then injured his hamstring in the dying minutes of his brilliant performance against the All Blacks. He returned for the Six Nations but then hurt his knee, playing just one of England’s five games, opening the door to the domestically excellent Janse van Rensburg.
The 29-year-old is one of seven uncapped players in the 42-man training squad: props Emmanuel Iyogun, Billy Sela, hooker Kepu Tuipulotu, scrum-halves Charlie Bracken and Archie McParland, and Premiership top-scorer Noah Caluori are all competing to make their international debuts this summer.
The squad, which will be whittled down to 36 for the Tests, will meet this week for a three-day camp at England’s Pennyhill Park base, before players return to the clubs for the final Prem season run-in.
But once the club season closes focus will quickly turn to the internationals, with just 14 days between the Prem final at Twickenham and the showdown with double world champions South Africa at Ellis Park.
It is understood that all 36 will make the challenging trip to Johannesburg, back to the UK and then out to Argentina for a Test match there, although a handful may be rested for the middle clash with Fiji.
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Janse van Rensburg was anonymous in Bristol Bear’s 94-33 hammering by Northampton Saints last Friday night but Borthwick and England have been trailing him for a while so will not be put off by that – and no one has nailed down their place in the centres over the last 12 months.
There are also, unusually, five scrum-halves: the three established ones in Jack van Portfliet, Ben Spencer, and Alex Mitchell; but then two young form players from the Prem in 21-year-old Archie McParland and 22-year-old Charlie Bracken, son of former England No 9 Kyran.
And it’s good to see Saracens-bound George Martin back in the squad too. The 6ft 6in lock has spent 14 months on the sideline after suffering a back injury during the 2025 Six Nations but made his return for Leicester Tigers last month.
These games are part of the inaugural Nations Championship, which encompasses Tests in the summer and autumn and culminates in a final at Twickenham on 29 November.
But summer Tests have often been an opportunity for teams to experiment and work on different combinations.
And even with Borthwick having been given a recent vote of confidence by the RFU, he cannot afford to take any fixture, even a home match against the Flying Fijians, lightly because results this summer will be under huge scrutiny, now maybe more than ever.
England training squad in full
Forwards
- Jamie Blamire (Leicester Tigers)
- Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
- Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby)
- Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
- Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
- Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
- Theo Dan (Saracens)
- Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)
- Ben Earl (Saracens)
- Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
- Jamie George (Saracens)
- Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
- Nick Isiekwe (Saracens)
- Maro Itoje (Saracens)
- Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints)
- George Martin (Leicester Tigers)
- Beno Obano (Bath Rugby)
- Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
- Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby)
- Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
- Billy Sela (Bath Rugby)
- Kepu Tuipulotu (Bath Rugby)
Backs
- Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)
- Charlie Bracken (Saracens)
- Noah Caluori (Saracens)
- Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
- Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs)
- George Ford (Sale Sharks)
- Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
- George Furbank (Northampton Saints)
- Benhard Janse van Rensburg (Bristol Bears)
- Archie McParland (Northampton Saints)
- Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
- Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
- Adam Radwan (Leicester Tigers)
- Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
- Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
- Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
- Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
- Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
- Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
- Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)
