Overview
- England head coach Steve Borthwick announced the 25 players who will receive centrally managed enhanced elite contracts for 2026/27 on Wednesday.
- Five players have been given enhanced deals for the first time: Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Alex Coles, Guy Pepper, Jack van Poortvliet and Seb Atkinson.
- Several previous contract-holders were omitted and Tom Willis is now ineligible for selection after joining Bordeaux, changing the pool available for national selection.
- The enhanced agreements, introduced under the Professional Game Partnership, replace match-by-match fees with fixed annual payments reported to be about £150,000 and leave non-contracted players receiving match fees of roughly £21,000 plus image-rights payments for contracted players.
- The contracts give Borthwick final say over medical care and conditioning for the 25 players, a system designed to reduce club–country clashes seen in past disputes and to prepare the group for November fixtures against Australia, Japan and New Zealand.