Ashton backs electric Bracken for England's 2027 World Cup squad despite fierce wing competition

Chris Ashton has thrown his weight behind Jack Bracken as a potential England World Cup squad member, describing the 20-year-old Saracens wing as “electric” after a pre-season that turned heads across the Gallagher Premiership.

Bracken, son of 2003 World Cup winner Kyran Bracken and a 2024 World Rugby Junior World Championship winner, announced himself emphatically this summer by scoring a hat-trick in Saracens’ 96-42 Premiership Rugby Cup win over Northampton Saints, then repeating the feat the following week against Ampthill. He enters the new Premiership season uncapped at senior international level.

“There’s a kid at Saracens who’s been in a bit and then out a bit, played some Champ,” Ashton told RugbyPass. “But in pre-season he just looks like he really could have a strong start, and hopefully he’s on the wing for Saracens — that’s Jack Bracken. I hope we see a lot more of him. If Jack Bracken has a good year, you never know, he’s electric.”

Ashton, who earned 44 caps for England, acknowledged that wing is one of the most congested positions in Steve Borthwick’s squad. With only two wing berths in a typical matchday 23 and limited bench cover, even established players such as Henry Arundell and Tom Roebuck have found consistency hard to maintain. Ashton views British & Irish Lion Tommy Freeman and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso as near-certainties for two of the three wing spots in a World Cup squad, with fellow 20-year-old Saracen Noah Caluori another strong candidate if he continues his development. That would leave one remaining back-three slot — a wing-fullback hybrid role that Bracken, who has also featured at 15, is well-placed to contest.

However, Ashton sounded a broader warning about the environment in which Bracken and his peers are developing. High-scoring domestic fixtures — including the 138-point Premiership Rugby Cup encounter between Saracens and Northampton this month — are, in his view, poor preparation for the defensive intensity of Test rugby.

“The big problem comes when you’ve got international aspirations as a player,” Ashton said. “When your team is rolling in 40, 50 points, it’s non-transferable; you can’t go from taking 40 points on a weekend to playing Test matches, where it’s going to be a tight game with a relatively small scoreline.”

For Bracken, then, the challenge is twofold: standing out in a Saracens side capable of running up cricket scores, while demonstrating the defensive resilience and composure under pressure that Borthwick demands from his international wings. A full Premiership season of consistent form could be enough to force the England head coach’s hand ahead of the 2027 tournament.