Steve Borthwick to be sacked? My bold rugby predictions for 2025 ...Middle East

A big year ahead in rugby union, with a home World Cup for the women, and the men’s British & Irish Lions on tour in Australia, plus all the usual fun and games in the Six Nations and club competitions.

The i Paper has got the crystal ball out to see who and what will make the headlines in 2025.

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England are staging the Women’s World Cup for the first time since 2010, with a professional, settled and experienced squad underpinned by a mostly semi-professional league, the PWR (Premiership Women’s Rugby – or just “power”, if you prefer).

From kick-off against the USA in Sunderland on 22 August through to the 27 September final at Twickenham (and, yes, that will be the ground’s title, as naming rights are not recognised in Rugby World Cups), Marlie Packer, Emily Scarratt, Abby Dow and company should have too much for their nearest rivals France, Canada and New Zealand, and in the process they could become household names.

Try not to worry about England losing five of the last six finals, all to New Zealand.

Prediction: Hosts England win.

British & Irish Lions tour to Australia

Australia couldn’t beat an egg not so long ago – remember the 40-6 hammering by Wales (yes, Wales!) in the World Cup in September 2023?

Joe Schmidt has got the Wallabies on the up, but they have scant preparation before the Test series in July and August, and the Lions could simply pick the Ireland pack and Scotland’s backs and win it by 3-0.

The greatest risk to the tour leader Andy Farrell is he tries to be too clever, but this seems highly unlikely.

As one, er, test case, many pundits believe Farrell will pluck his son Owen from the French league.

But is fly-half/centre a problem for the Lions that needs solving by someone who will not have played international rugby for 18 months?

As for possible bolters, Farrell senior has no need to look beyond those with double figures in caps, but maybe the new Ireland No 10 Sam Prendergast or an English youngster such as Tom Roebuck, Asher Opoku-Fordjour or Henry Pollock will fly if they have stellar second halves to the season.

Prediction: Lions win Down Under.

Okay, this smacks of a very foggy crystal ball, and the kind of bookmakers’ odds in which “next England head coach” includes Clive Woodward, Eddie Jones, Boris Johnson and Mickey Mouse – and not necessarily in that order.

Still, let’s speculate. England’s opening three opponents in the Six Nations next month are Ireland in Dublin, and France and Scotland at Twickenham, so Borthwick’s team could be 0-3 if their autumn story of near misses continues.

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Then those cheeky odds lists will be bound to feature Michael Cheika, sitting close at hand as head coach of Leicester Tigers and with a CV to die for. (This scenario also applies to Wales, by the way).

Alternatively, those who believe Steve Borthwick has done okay with England, given the drain of players to France or into retirement, will hope a couple of decent starts away to Ireland in recent times can be turned into an 80-minute win.

More widely, if Scotland are ever going to win the Six Nations again, they have the fixture list to do it, and going to France in the final match on 15 March with everything riding on it would be fun.

Prediction: Scotland win (and Michael Cheika replaces Steve Borthwick).

Bath are aiming to go one better than last season (Photo: Getty)

Funny team, Bath – at times they can get bogged down: unconvincing in the breakdown and taking too long to score.

Then it all clicks, and Ben Spencer and Finn Russell in the halves are full-on majestic.

The Premiership’s beaten finalists of last season should earn a home semi-final in the play-offs, and kick on to glory.

They may also be helped by not going deep in the Champions Cup – unlike Leinster, who are likely to be battling on both fronts.

But they can still land a first URC crown since 2021 while Toulouse, neatly, will win the Champions Cup final in Cardiff, 30 years on from taking the inaugural title in the Welsh capital.

Prediction: Bath, Leinster and Toulouse win.

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Exciting to watch, and a dream to interview, Sale Sharks scrum-half Raffi Quirke could enjoy a resurgence on the back of his pack’s attack.

The 23-year-old is built like Antoine Dupont, and moves at a similarly rapid rate, although he knows he need to work on emulating the reliable decision-making of the French maestro.

At their best, the Sharks with the literal twin threat of Tom and Ben Curry can dominate any English opposition.

They just need Quirke, George Ford and the other main faces to stay fit.

Prediction: Raffi Quirke comes into his own.

Law changes and tweaks

There have been some odd law interpretations afoot, aimed at speeding up and opening up the game, and the exciting/unsettling news is of more to come.

A crooked line-out throw allowed, as long as the opposing team does not contest the throw? Yes, that’s in – although how will the thrower know?

The player in the half-back position able to break from a scrum, ruck or maul without a defender from that situation being allowed to tackle them? Yes, in competitions that have not started yet, and it should help the fast-breaking likes of Quirke, Dupont and Alex Mitchell.

We’re also seeing more kicking to create an aerial contest, which either means an increase in the thrill of unstructured play or more of a mess, depending on the execution.

Prediction: Rules! Rules! Rules!

On the same theme, here is a hope, rather than a prediction: for the Rugby Football Union to rip up their communications strategy and start again, from top to bottom.

Pushing out social-media posts and incomprehensible press releases to announce fait accompli decisions may suit a secretive corporate world but it is wrong for rugby, in which human relationships are everything.

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There was already a root-and-branch review of the RFU’s structure, which may eventually come forward with a separation of powers between the pro and amateur ranks.

But then came the recent furore over executive pay: a bonus scheme to reward Twickenham suits for riding out the pandemic had been mentioned briefly and opaquely in RFU annual reports, but when it got out in full detail in December, on went the tin hats.

The point here is less about the pay of the chief executive Bill Sweeney and his closest colleagues – although the decisions made by and around the RFU board are now being picked apart – and more about the degree to which they keep everyone in the know and foster debate.

The people with power must remember the men, women and children who actually make the game tick, and do more to keep them informed and involved. 

Prediction: A new era of open government.

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