England’s best-laid plans for the 2025 Six Nations have been disrupted by a raft of fresh injuries which has forced Steve Borthwick to call up five new players to his squad. Jamie George, Jack van Poortvliet, Alex Dombrandt and Alex Coles will all miss the opening weeks of England’s campaign while Alex Mitchell will be unable to train this week because of a knee problem.

The Northampton forwards Curtis Langdon and Henry Pollock, the Gloucester lock Arthur Clark and scrum-halves Ben Spencer and Raffi Quirke have flown out to join the national team’s training camp in Spain as injury cover, at a time when Borthwick is already having to cope without Manny Feyi-Waboso, George Furbank and Sam Underhill.

George, replaced last week as captain by Maro Itoje, faces being out for up to three weeks with a strained hamstring while Van Poortvliet requires a scan on a knee injury he sustained in Toulouse last weekend and looks likely to be out for around a month. Dombrandt and Coles will also be unavailable for England’s pivotal opening games against Ireland and France.

Should the influential Mitchell also be ruled out of his side’s opening game against Ireland in Dublin on 1 February, it really will constitute a crisis but, for now, it is anticipated that the Northampton scrum-half will only be sidelined for a few days. “He’ll be on modified training and rehabilitation this week and should be in training next week,” Borthwick said, speaking at the Six Nations launch in central Rome. “We are very optimistic he will be available.”

The loss of George, though, is a blow given his experience and standing within the squad. It is understood he would probably not have started against the Irish but his lineout throwing, in particular, will still be a loss. “He’s a top-class player, a great leader and a fantastic influence around the other ­players,” Borthwick said. “We’re desperately disappointed for us as a squad and for him. I spoke to him yesterday and I got a sense of determination from him down the phone. He’s a fast healer and he’s going to get back asap. I told him that to pull a hamstring he’d clearly run too fast. I’m disappointed for him but hopefully he’ll be back soon.”

Opportunity now knocks, though, for some individuals less than a week after they were omitted from Borthwick’s original squad. Langdon has been waiting for a chance for some time while the 20-year-old Pollock is widely regarded as a top-class international player of the future.

“I want back-rowers who are going to compete, really compete, because the level of back-rows in the Six Nations is phenomenal,” Borthwick said. Clark, also uncapped, has been on Borthwick’s radar for some time as well and, with Saracens’ Nick Isiekwe unavailable, has a chance to measure himself against established senior pros such as Itoje.

As things stand it appears Spencer, dropped from the squad last Tuesday, is now behind Mitchell, Bristol’s Harry Randall and Sale’s Quirke in the pecking order of red rose 9s as England look to pursue a faster brand of rugby. Borthwick, though, is clearly desperate to rush Mitchell back if he possibly can.

“You can see the effect Alex has on the Northampton team as well as England,” the head coach said. “He is clearly crucial to the way we want to play. We know that, in this championship, the breakdown is going to be hard-fought so getting that ball away is going to be very, very important to us.”

With a number of English players having just emerged from sobering club defeats in the Champions Cup last weekend, however, Borthwick accepts it is now even more vital for a squad selected from a range of different clubs to mesh together “very quickly” in Girona this week if they are to deliver on their potential. Borthwick will not be releasing anyone back to their clubs for extra game time this weekend but is refusing to use injuries as an excuse. “You always anticipate there’s going to be changes. Every coach now does and you’ve got to adapt. That’s why you have your depth charts.”