The average age of the England rugby squad in 2022 is 25 ½ years old.
The two oldest players, Courtney Laws and Ben Youngs, were 32.
The youngest players were two backs, Orlando Bailey and Tommy Freeman.
In general, the England forwards were slightly older than the backs by about half a year.
The England squad age has lowered by about half a year from the Autumn Internationals in 2021.
This article dives into the details. We also compare the squad averages to ages across the England Premiership and against other top countries. You may be surprised!
Age Of Every Player In the England Rugby Squad
Squads are usually broken down by forwards and backs, so we’ll do the same.
We’ll start with the forwards. The squad is ordered from the young guns to the senior citizens!
Ages Of England Forwards
| England Player | Date Of Birth | Age (2022) | Position |
| Alfie Barbeary | 05 October 2000 | 21 | Hooker or backrow |
| Ollie Chessum | 06 September 2000 | 21 | Lock |
| Bevan Rodd | 26 August 2000 | 21 | Prop |
| Joe Heyes | 13 April 1999 | 22 | Prop |
| Tom Curry | 15 June 1998 | 23 | Flanker |
| Jamie Blamire | 22 December 1997 | 24 | Hooker |
| Alex Dombrandt | 29 April 1997 | 24 | No 8 or lock |
| Will Stuart | 12 July 1996 | 25 | Prop |
| Lewis Ludlam | 08 December 1995 | 26 | Back-row |
| Charlie Ewels | 29 June 1995 | 26 | Lock |
| Ellis Genge | 16 February 1995 | 26 | Prop |
| Sam Simmonds | 10 November 1994 | 27 | No 8 |
| Maro Itoje | 28 October 1994 | 27 | Lock or backrow |
| Jonny Hill | 08 June 1994 | 27 | Lock |
| Luke Cowan-Dickie | 20 June 1993 | 28 | Hooker |
| Kyle Sinckler | 30 March 1993 | 28 | Prop |
| Jamie George | 20 October 1990 | 31 | Hooker |
| Joe Marler | 07 July 1990 | 31 | Prop |
| Courtney Lawes | 23 February 1989 | 32 | Lock |
The average age of the forwards is 25 years and 9 months.
Ages Of England Backs
| England Player | Date Of Birth | Age (2022) | Position |
| Orlando Bailey | 29 September 2001 | 20 | Flyhalf |
| Raffi Quirke | 18 August 2001 | 20 | Scrumhalf |
| Tommy Freeman | 05 March 2001 | 20 | Fullback |
| Freddie Steward | 05 December 2000 | 21 | Fullback or wing |
| Marcus Smith | 14 February 1999 | 22 | Flyhalf |
| Ollie Hassell-Collins | 17 January 1999 | 23 | Wing |
| Harry Randall | 18 December 1997 | 24 | Scrumhalf |
| Luke Northmore | 16 March 1997 | 24 | Centre |
| Max Malins | 07 January 1997 | 25 | Fullback or flyhalf |
| George Furbank | 17 October 1996 | 25 | Fullback |
| Joe Marchant | 16 July 1996 | 25 | Centre |
| Jack Nowell | 11 April 1993 | 28 | Wing |
| Henry Slade | 19 March 1993 | 28 | Centre |
| Owen Farrell | 24 September 1991 | 30 | Flyhalf or centre |
| Jonny May | 01 April 1990 | 31 | Wing |
| Mark Atkinson | 08 March 1990 | 31 | Centre |
| Ben Youngs | 05 September 1989 | 32 | Scrumhalf |
The average age of the backs is 25 years and 3 months. This is six months lower than the forwards.
If you want more squad details including the clubs of the players, check out our article that covers all the Six Nations squads.
How Does The England Squad Compare To The Premiership?
You can see a detailed breakdown by club in this article on the average age of Premiership rugby players. We’ll use the numbers in that article to do some interesting comparisons here.
In general, the average age across the Premiership is 27 years old. This means that Eddie Jones has picked a squad that is younger than the rest of the Premiership.
The squad is also a little younger than the 2021 squad for the Autumn Internationals.
We mentioned that two players in the squad are 32 years old. How much longer can these old stagers keep going?
Well, the average age of retirement in the Premiership is four years older than that so there’s a bit of life in them yet!
And what about the young guns? It’s rare enough for twenty year olds to be called into squads, so the three young backs can be very proud of themselves.
They are actually a full year younger than the average age that players get their first contracts across the Premiership.
How Does The England Squad Compare To Other Countries?
I compiled international player ages using test squads from 2021.
As you can see, England is tied with France as having the youngest average ages.
Both national coaches have said they are building for the next World Cup. That is probably why they are blooding young players at a higher rate than usual.
| Country | Average |
| England | 25 |
| Ireland | 28 |
| Scotland | 26 |
| Wales | 27 |
| France | 25 |
| Australia | 26 |
| New Zealand | 27 |
| South Africa | 29 |