Can England's Attack Win Them the Six Nations Title in 2026? A Three-Year Evolution
Three years ago, England's rugby team was struggling with an ineffective attack, ranking as the worst in the top tier of Test rugby. Steve Borthwick, appointed as head coach with just nine months to prepare for the Rugby World Cup, opted for a conservative strategy: kicking high, long, and often to minimize mistakes. While this approach almost secured successive World Cup finals, it often left supporters bored.
England's limitations were such that an Italy side ranked 12th in the world in 2023, lower than Samoa, scored more tries across the year, despite playing three fewer matches. It was as if England had left the handbrake on and lost the keys to a car locked in the garage.
The following year, a transitional team continued to struggle, losing seven of 12 Tests and making only modest gains in attack. But in 2025, everything changed.
England's attack evolved into something with verve and variety. Only the back-to-back world champions, South Africa, scored more tries, while Opta data shows a drastic improvement compared to every other Tier 1 nation. This newfound ambition underpinned a year of growth, with England winning a series in Argentina with a depleted squad and defeating New Zealand for just the ninth time in their 120-year rivalry as part of an unbeaten autumn.
England's current run of 11 wins is their longest in nearly a decade. Annual gains since the Edinburgh defeat two years ago have been boosted by the arrival of Lee Blackett, the mastermind behind Bath's backline, which scored an unrivaled 102 tries on their way to winning last year's Premiership.
Blackett was seconded for the tour of Argentina last summer with a brief to "remould" England's attack, and a 2-0 series win followed, despite the absence of 15 senior players on the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia. Blackett was then appointed attack coach permanently in September.
A clean sweep of the autumn followed, including the exhilarating win against New Zealand. In the early days of Borthwick's reign, attacking platforms were often wasted by an inaccurate, even hopeful kick. England was statistically the worst of all Tier 1 sides at turning clear opportunities into tries, converting just 28% of their chances.
However, in 2025, only South Africa and France were more effective at scoring from a line-break, with England's completion rate rising to 43%.
"(Blackett) is really good at giving players confidence to take risks," said Ashton. "You need a coach who's encouraging you to score tries." But here's where it gets controversial... Will England's attack be enough to win them the Six Nations title in 2026? And this is the part most people miss... The key to England's success may lie in the balance between their newfound ambition and the consistency they've yet to achieve.
