SECOND ROW
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens)
5. Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Without a doubt the easiest area of England’s team to predict, the engine room of the scrum should once again be the partnership of Ollie Chessum and Maro Itoje. This duo have grown into England best second row pairing, with Chessum especially benefiting from Itoje’s tutelage on the international stage. Chessum’s key score against Samoa kicked England into gear for an eventual yet narrow win, with more needed from Itoje against this weekend’s Pacific Island opponents.
Itoje needs one big performance to re-capture that fire. We have not seen the Saracen hit top gear yet in the competition, but he certainly came close to it in the opening weekend’s victory against Argentina. A big performance from the lock would lift his teammates, as he can utilise his talents to disrupt the attacking momentum of the free-flowing Fijians.
BACK ROW
6. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
7. Ben Earl (Saracens)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
The back-row will be more of the same, with the top performing flankers being Courtney Lawes and Ben Earl. We’ve chosen the two hard-hitters to un out at six and seven, with Billy Vunipola expectant to slot in at number eight against Fiji. Tom Curry drops to the bench in our predictions, with Borthwick ready to utilise his skillset anywhere across the back-row.
England are lucky to have a back-row of not strictly position specialists (outside of Vunipola). Curry could well come on for either man in the back three, and re-jig the sytem for a strong end to proceedings this Sunday. Lawes had his 100th test match spoilt by Fiji last Summer, as Simon Raiwalui’s side recorded their historic upset. The Northampton Saints man will present his regular cool and composed demeanour, but the internal fire will be burning bright for this weekend’s World Cup quarter-final.
REPLACEMENTS
16. Theo Dan
17. Joe Marler
18. Dan Cole
19. David Ribbans
20. Tom Curry
21. Alex Mitchell
22. George Ford
23. Marcus Smith