Optimism abounds about England’s Six Nations chances. They go into a tournament considered as one of the genuine favourites for the title for the first time in years and they have the body of work to back that up after 11 consecutive victories. That sort of winning streak leads to greater expectations but these players can walk tall and handle external pressure.
I would warn against expecting another 50-point victory against Wales on Saturday, however. The fixture list aligns perfectly for England – if Steve Borthwick were to handpick his side’s schedule then this would probably be it – and while I fully expect them to beat Wales and claim a bonus point, we have to remember that they are never at their best at the start of a campaign. The Professional Game Partnership might have made some aspects of bringing together players from 10 different clubs an easier task, but it is still a challenge. As a result, we cannot expect that England will be at their fluent best at Twickenham.
The beauty of the fixture list means England get to open their campaign against a side who are in the doldrums, without a win in 11 matches in the tournament and mired in off-field problems. It’s an opportunity to fully get everyone on to the same page before going up against Scotland at Murrayfield which will quite simply make or break England’s campaign. Win it, end their poor recent run in Edinburgh and England are perfectly set for a tilt at the title. Come unstuck again and history is repeating itself for Borthwick’s side, the progression becomes harder to see and this team remains a work in progress.
Supporters clearly expect more than that but England have been making the right noises so far about handling that pressure. Borthwick has been talking about how Wales will play, he’s mentioned that he expects them to kick a lot which seems to me to be taken straight out of the José Mourinho playbook and the messaging has impressed me. England haven’t shied away from the expectation.
I also wonder if there’s an element of getting excuses in early because I fully expect that England will kick plenty on Saturday too. I like the makeup of the side a lot but by choosing Fraser Dingwall at inside-centre, Tommy Freeman at outside-centre and Freddie Steward at full-back, Borthwick doesn’t have a second playmaker at his disposal in the starting XV. Marcus Smith can be that playmaker, as and when he comes off the bench, but England do need to find a way of getting the ball into the hands of someone like Henry Arundell.
I’m pleased to see Arundell given another opportunity in the starting side. I watched his performance for Bath in their victory against Saracens shortly after the autumn internationals. Sometimes we can take his raw attributes, his pace, power and explosive abilities for granted but he was on point in that regard and demonstrated an aerial ability that Borthwick will have loved watching, how he coped in direct competition with Noah Caluori and as a result, Arundell earns his shot. If Wales are to kick a lot then it will most likely be off 10 because they’ll be desperate to keep the ball away from Steward but Arundell has evidently come on in leaps and bounds in that facet of the game. So my message is simple to England: get him in the game early on.
Like everyone else, England have their injury problems. They have the strength in depth to cope at the moment but a couple more in key positions and it could become an issue. Their scrum has improved out of sight since Borthwick took over but Tom Harrison has his work cut out to keep England firing on all cylinders in that regard. They have front row absentees but what I love about the squad Borthwick has selected is that the bench has not been depowered. In fact, with Maro Itoje among the replacements, it has arguably got stronger.
Henry Pollock is again on the bench, still waiting for his first start, which I expect will come against Italy later in the competition. I’m sure there are onlookers wondering why he is not starting. Pollock is a British & Irish Lion whereas Guy Pepper isn’t but Borthwick has cultivated an environment in which everyone has a role and everyone buys into it. It’s such an asset to have someone like Pollock, so young and with so few caps but such an energy driver in the squad. We all see what he does on the sidelines when he’s waiting to come on but what we don’t see is what he brings to the squad from Monday to Friday. It shouldn’t be underestimated. It was against Wales last year when he made his England debut and scored two tries from the bench and I wouldn’t bet against him doing the same again on Saturday.
