Why England’s front row is now the best in the world – thanks to Olympic rowers, a brutal training regime and their new wave of world-class youngsters

During the latter stages of the Eddie Jones era, England looked to scrum like the Springboks. They tried to subject opponents to a slow suffocation, using South Africa’s formidable set-piece as their blueprint to take on the world.

With the likes of Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert and RG Snyman in their ranks, the Springboks’ motto was an Afrikaans phrase: Maak dit Klein. Make it small. Or the less literal translation: squeeze the living hell out of you.

The South Africans treat the scrum like a marathon, not a sprint. Their locks engage on two knees, finding their balance before injecting a slow poison into their opponents.

England have adopted a different stance. They now explode off one knee, with a sharp snap, and the technique is being taught to players at every level of the pathway. They operate as a collective and have even studied how Olympic rowers move together on the water.

Head coach Steve Borthwick and scrum specialist Tom Harrison have been able to drill down on the detail with players on new centralised contracts.

Subsequently, England have become the least penalised scrummaging team in Test rugby this year, having been the ninth-worst back in 2022.

The front row stood up to the All Blacks last week to set the platform for a famous victory

‘The Springboks want to make sure you’re scrummaging from minute one to minute 80,’ said Matt Proudfoot, a former assistant coach with both South Africa and England.

‘With the maul, they would say, “You might stop our first six but you’re not going to stop our second six”. It’s the same scrummaging philosophy. If they find a weak link in your six front-row forwards, they will exploit it. You’ve got to scrum well against them all the time.

‘They want to get you to a place that when you’re getting your head out of the scrum, you can’t pick your foot off the ground because you’re so tired.

‘It’s a battle of will: how long do you want to sit down there? That’s what the South Africans do, they test your emotional resolve. Are you prepared to go into a dark place with them – because that’s where they want to be. They prepare for it.

‘There are different philosophies. The Springboks have much heavier packs. Eben, RG, Lood are very big second rows so they can maintain it for 80 minutes. England want to win that contest as quick as possible and then look to hurt you. They want their athletes to play.

‘It’s a different way of looking at it and that’s probably what I struggled with when I was with England. Wanting to do it the way I did at the Springboks. In hindsight, I should have adapted quicker. Tom Harrison has been incredible. Steve’s got a lot of trust in him and the players have bought into him.’

Control is one of the words used by England’s props. They do not go for broke at every scrum. Previous packs may have gambled to win a penalty, leaving themselves open to conceding them at the same time.

It paid dividends at Twickenham last weekend when they dominated the All Black pack at the set-piece, having used their ostensibly second-choice front row from the start in Fin Baxter, Jamie George and Joe Heyes before Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Will Stuart – all Lions the summer just gone – came on to finish the job.

Still only 23, Harlequins prop Fin Baxter was instrumental to England’s All Blacks win

British & Irish Lion Ellis Genge came off the bench to finish the job 

‘If you’ve got a Lions front row coming off the bench, you know you’re in a pretty good place,’ said Harlequins scrum coach Adam Jones. ‘But it’s even deeper than that with all the young guys England have coming through.

‘England are not the heaviest when you compare them to South Africa or France, but they’re certainly not small either. The looseheads would be 120 kilos (just shy of 19st) plus, Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie are big hookers.

‘The second rows aren’t Will Skelton or Emmanuel Meafou size but if you’ve got 120kg second rows and props who are fit and can keep their shape in the 60th minute, then that sometimes beats pure size.

‘They’ve got big tightheads who are very good at staying square. If you can stay square and you’ve got good collective timing then you’re halfway there. Fin Baxter is going from strength to strength. His neck is probably about 21 inches and isn’t the longest, which is perfect for a loosehead.

‘Ellis Genge and Will Stuart have been around for years now. Joe Heyes is very aggressive and wants to make it a one-on-one against the loosehead. He caused the All Blacks a fair bit of problems last weekend because their looseheads are tall – 6ft 2in or 6ft 3in – and you can put them in a bad shape if you stay square.

‘He operates pretty close to the ground and he caused them a few issues. He’s aggressive across the mark and that’s a Leicester mentality that’s come down from Darren Garforth to Julian White to Martin Castrogiovanni to Dan Cole.’

Through closer collaboration at club and pathway level, England have built a newfound depth in front-row resources, allowing them to form their fierce ‘Pom Squad’ bench. In the PREM, more faith has been shown in young domestic props, in part forced by the financial squeeze on overseas stars. Harrison has played a key role.

One of those young stars, 21-year-old Asher Opoku-Fordjour of Sale will make his second Test start, and fifth appearance in all for England, against Argentina on Sunday, with Genge and Cowan-Dickie alongside him. Baxter, Stuart and Saracens hooker Theo Dan are among the replacements. 

Joe Heyes has ‘a Leicester mentality that’s come down from Darren Garforth to Julian White to Martin Castrogiovanni to Dan Cole’

Steve Borthwick works closely with scrum coach Harrison to provide a conveyor belt of talent

Other young hopefuls Afolabi Fasogbon of Gloucester, Bath’s Billy Sela and Sale hooker Nathan Jibulu were all in this autumn’s England A squad to face an All Blacks XV and Spain.

‘Outside of camp, Tom works exceptionally hard with Nathan Catt (England’s pathway scrum coach),’ said Borthwick. ‘There’s a very joined-up approach to understand who is coming through the pathway, who are the next players, who do we need to pick up.

‘There’s consistency in the way the team has trained around it and there’s a great understanding of the process we want as a scrum. Every club scrums slightly differently. There’s a clear process now.’

High-intensity fitness is a non-negotiable for Borthwick’s props. He wants his front-row forwards to add to England’s game away from the set-piece and shows footage of Genge’s work rate to set the standards.

‘The team is in considerably better condition than where it was,’ said Borthwick. ‘Over the last couple of campaigns we have been able to pick up where we left off.

‘It means effectively you can keep taking steps forward, which is a credit to the work that players are doing outside of camp. The enhanced EPS is certainly helping in that regard.

‘The team keeps running and can create chances and take chances and that’s the distinct difference.

‘This is a team that’s got to be able to run for each other. And while we don’t quite have the same power as an England team used to have, this team can run.

Asher Opoku-Fordjour will get his second England Test start on Sunday, against Argentina

Gloucester prop Afolabi Fasogbon, 21, is another depth option coming through, having played for England A in recent weeks

‘Does it run the way I want it to now? Not at the standard I want yet, but it’s moved a long way from where it was. A player coming into this team knows he has to be able to run. It’s the way Test rugby is now.

‘I’m asking players like Genge to be able to scrum, be able to lift incredible weights, and be able to run. I used Genge deliberately because there was a break in training today and he was the one who chased it down and dived on a loose ball that effectively stopped us conceding a try.

‘It reminded me of the way he ran in the Ireland game at Twickenham in 2024. James Lowe broke down the left wing, and it was Ellis who got over to him. Our expectation is that props are able to do all that heavy lifting and be able to run.’

The hard work is paying off. This weekend’s opponents, Argentina, are susceptible to penalties at scrum time so do not be surprised to see England earning more rewards from the referee.