Caluori's surprise inclusion, Willis' shock departure - England's November squad!
The Ruck
Reynolds Alfie
3.4 • 566 Ratings
🗓️ 20 October 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Alfie, Alex and Will are at England's training base after Steve Borthwick announced his training squad ahead of the November internationals. Teenage sensation Noah Caluori has been fast-tracked into the set-up, could he genuinely play a role next month? Owen Farrell isn't a part of this squad but will he return to international duty in the future? And, what does Tom Willis' move to Bordeaux next year, which makes him ineligible for England, tell us?
Plus, the boys look back on the PREM action over the weekend including brutal defeats for Harlequins, Gloucester and Sale.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the Ruck, the journalist's rugby podcast from The Times and the Sunday Today, coming to you from England's training base, which will be a regular place for the pod |
| 0:25.2 | over the coming months, I would imagine. Steve Borthwick has named a training squad ahead of |
| 0:30.2 | the autumn internationals. It isn't the definitive squad to face Australia, Argentina, |
| 0:34.7 | New Zealand and Fiji, but it gives a clear indication of where selection is at the moment. |
| 0:39.3 | I'm Alfie Reynolds, Will Kelleher, Alex Lowe alongside me. How are you, gents? Hello. Fireside chat for the first time this season. Yeah, and it feels very... Alex and I had a chat on the phone this morning, and it raining outside, and you think it's November coming, isn't it? Like on Saturday into Sunday, we're going to get the clocks going as well. |
| 0:55.9 | It's going to get dark at 4.30 and you think it's November coming, isn't it? Like on Saturday into Sunday, we're going to get the clocks going as well. |
| 0:55.9 | It's going to get dark at 4.30 and you think it smells like autumn test time, doesn't it? |
| 0:59.9 | Bring on the November test, yeah. |
| 1:01.3 | I love the awesome series. |
| 1:02.5 | It's always good fun and intriguing from an England point of view. |
| 1:05.2 | And an England squad, a training squad that is really interesting. |
| 1:08.8 | I think there's loads for us to get into here of news lines, |
| 1:12.0 | interesting selections, some depth, I think, that has built up in certain positions as well. |
| 1:16.5 | So we'll kind of go through everything, the Owen Farrell stuff, the Tom Willis stuff. |
| 1:21.0 | Can we start with Noah Kalori? Because a couple of weeks ago, most of us hadn't heard of this guy. |
| 1:28.0 | He's been doing, from what I understand, great things in the age group level and has been in the pathway and has impressed a lot of people. |
| 1:34.9 | scored a try on his debut off the bench, scored five tries for Saracens against Sale at the weekend, could have had six if it wasn't the penalty try right at the end of the first half. |
| 1:44.0 | And he is in this training squad as a kind of development opportunity. could have had six if it wasn't the penalty try right at the end of the first half. |
| 1:49.1 | And he is in this training squad as a kind of development opportunity, essentially. |
| 1:53.7 | Yeah, not named as an apprentice, which if we were still in the Eddie Jones era, he would have been. |
| 1:58.7 | But it's just an awesome kind of sensational story, isn't it? |
| 2:01.0 | Like we've had people burst onto the scene. |
... |
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