Inside the brutal world of the England scrum: ‘Stay in the abyss'

Independent

09-07-2025

In the leafy confines of Pennyhill Park, their usual Surrey training base, the England rugby team have every facility they could possibly want.
Head half a world away to La Plata in Argentina and the state-of-the-art installations are not as easily located, but at Club San Luis, in the outskirts of the city, Steve Borthwick has found a stunning ground where the massive operation of training the best of the best can begin.
Borthwick is renowned for his attention to detail and every moment of a match week is planned out meticulously.
Considering the value placed on intellectual property by high-performance sports teams, a training session such as the one taking place this Tuesday after the opening Test victory would usually be off-limits to prying eyes. But, luckily for us, Borthwick has invited a trio of travelling journalists behind the curtain to see exactly how his team are preparing in their bid for a series victory over Los Pumas.
As we enter the club where Argentina's most capped player, Agustin Creevy, first picked up a rugby ball, the worry is that the mist covering the ground will make this rare access worthless.
Thankfully, around midday, just as England are preparing to begin their main session of the day, the fog lifts and we are treated to near-perfect training conditions.
For an hour and 40 minutes, the England squad are put through their paces during a session which features full 15 on 15 action played at beyond match intensity.
By the time they jog out onto the pitch at San Luis in front of a group of intrigued youngsters from the local club, not to mention, a few equally attentive members of the media, the England players have already been in the gym, carried out a full-on contact skills session and for the forwards, a detailed run-through of the lineout.
The players warm up with a range of different exercises and it is all hands to the pump. Analyst Joe Lewis is up the ladder collecting the hookers' practice throws, while Borthwick tests Chandler Cunningham-South's reactions with a few tennis balls. Team manager Richard Hill is here, there and everywhere throughout the session, as are the five assistant coaches.
What is immediately evident is the lack of down time. When the players are warmed up and the music stops, it is all business.
Of the drills, the most entertaining is one for the skiers in the squad. It involves the forwards collecting a pass and running at slalom gates and having to change direction at the last second depending on which gate is unblocked.
By this stage, Lewis has left the ladder and is on the sidelines controlling the drone that is getting the bird's-eye view of the action, relaying immediate feedback to the coaches to influence the session.
The attention to detail of George Ford is apparent on another drill. As the forwards and half-backs work on their attack close to the gainline, the fly-half stops everything when a ball played out of the back hits the deck. Quickly and concisely, he explains exactly where each player is meant to be for the pullback and when the drill is run again, it is seamless.
That quick explanation is virtually the only opportunity for the players to draw breath in the first half-hour.
Everything is done at a relentless tempo.
England skipper Jamie George explains the thought process behind it: 'The aim is still to go above Test match intensity. You often hear Steve talk about trying to replicate the hardest Test matches we've played and try to take it above that and see where we can go with that.
'You probably end up with four-minute blocks. If the ball goes dead or you drop the ball and other ball comes in straightaway. The ball is never in play for four minutes in a Test match but we want to work in four-minute blocks so it's above that intensity. He constantly talks about driving habits under fatigue.'
Those four-minute blocks come during 15 on 15 play, which features the Test 23 up against those who will not feature on Saturday in San Juan. The majority are in for the duration, although front-rowers and scrum-halves tend to rotate in and out.
While the first team look as slick as they did during the 10-minute burst after half-time that swung the first Test, the reserves have a few moments of their own.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who will be back from suspension for the USA next weekend, wreaks havoc each time the ball reaches him, while one Harry Randall kick-pass to Arthur Clark draws disbelieving remarks from the touchline.
Then we come to the scrum session. This is what we were initially brought in to watch, a chance to see six props all desperate to prove what they can do in the absence of Ellis Genge and Will Stuart on the Lions tour.
The fact that they are scrummaging at the end of the session is no coincidence.
Harrison explains: 'Tuesday is testing under fatigue; long scrums. We review that, ask what we learnt, so that Thursday we can tweak it. It's teach, test, tweak; that's the framework I use.
'I like them failing, I like there to be a problem coming out of Tuesday's session. Where they go: 'Ooof, that wasn't quite right.' Then we have something we can focus on. If it's all really nice then I'm asking myself whether we got the challenge right.'
Even with the lactic acid coursing through their legs, the desire to get one over on their teammates is evident.
The props work in combinations – as is usually the case in games. During the Six Nations, first Test starters Fin Baxter and Joe Heyes worked in tandem for every scrum they faced. Here, they combine with George, with the three front-row combinations alternating with the two back fives.
The limit for a session like this is just seven live scrums but on this occasion they do not even get that far.
Harrison is at the heart of it, demanding that his props keep the scrum up and extending the pushing period as much as possible with cries of 'Stay in the abyss'.
The final scrum of the session is an even bigger test as the two props on the sidelines join one of the packs to increase the pressure on the other side.
Harrison explains: 'If we're playing against a team which scrummages for penalties, and a heavy pack, then I'll go 10 versus eight and stick two extra No.8s on and have a longer time under tension.'
Impressively, the eight more than hold their own and even start to move forward by the end. A final flourish to a demanding session.
With that, they are done. Everything is packed away, the team head back to the bus for the team hotel before a flight over to San Juan and acclimatisation to a new environment.
England know Los Pumas will come at them with everything in the second Test. If they are to make it 2-0, then the work done in San Luis will have played a big part.