"Potential to be outstanding" - Steve Borthwick confident in England after naming Six Nations squad

The immediate concern is fitness. Five players will travel to England’s warm weather camp in Girona next week while continuing their rehabilitation. Fin Baxter, Ben Curry, Ollie Lawrence, Tom Roebuck and Fin Smith are all close, but not quite there yet. The fact they are heading out with the squad at all is a positive sign, even if their availability for the opening weekend remains uncertain.

“By the fact we’re taking them out to this camp shows that they’re not far away from being back on the grass," Borthwick said.

"Whilst we could talk about each one of them individually I think right now it’s too early to rule them out. I think they’ve got a chance. For the Wales Test match I think it would be tight. We’d need the rehab to go really well and tick all the boxes through the process. It’s tight but I think they’re all within a shot of it.”

That sense of cautious hope sums up England’s broader situation. The squad has depth and quality, but it is not without its vulnerabilities. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the front row. Injuries to Will Stuart, Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Baxter have stripped away experience, forcing Borthwick to lean on players who are either uncapped or very early in their international careers. Immanuel Iyogun has yet to win a senior cap, Trevor Davison has three, and Vilikesa Sela is also uncapped.

During the autumn, England’s bench was a genuine weapon. Borthwick could introduce hardened Test performers late in games and swing momentum back his side’s way. That luxury may not be available this time, and it could force a rethink around how England manage tight matches.

“Possibly. You deal with each of those situations on their own merits. We have also got plenty of depth in other positions and playing experience. We were talking about the midfield. You can look at other positions and there are plenty of top-quality players here.

“That decision, I have talked at length about what we need to do in how there are so many Test matches that are within a score of each other in that final part of the game. So that’ll be a decision around the experienced front-row forwards, if you like. Do they start or do they come off the bench?”

What is clear is that England’s senior forwards are being asked to do more than simply perform. They are being asked to lead, to guide and to bring others with them.

“I will at this point say that some players have got a big role to play – Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Luke Cowan-Dickie – who are senior Test match players. And I know they will embrace this because we have already spoken about it. They will be… they are are so important to this team and so important to the development of players that come into the Test match arena. I want these players to feel supported and encouraged. Challenged as well, but knowing their team-mates are there and are going to help them develop.”

Beyond selection headaches, there is a growing sense that this England team is heading somewhere. Eleven straight Test wins, capped by a nervy but determined victory over Argentina in the autumn and an eye-catching debut from Max Ojomoh, have shifted the external conversation. Borthwick does not publicly set targets, but he does not shy away from ambition either.

“Well, I think the first thing I'd like to say about that is I think it is brilliant that people are talking in that way about this England team. They can see the development of the team and they can see the talent that's in the team and they can see the potential that's in it. I think we're nowhere near maxing out the potential. It's got a lot of talent within it.”

England’s coaches and players are well aware of how narrow the margins are. The last seven Six Nations titles have gone down to the final weekend, and that reality shapes how this campaign is being framed internally.

“We met a couple of weeks ago and we talked about the Six Nations Championship. We know it's tight, we know there's lots of good teams in it. We also know the last seven Six Nations Championships have gone down to the last round of fixtures and we talked about that as a team.

“On the 14th of March in Paris, we want to be in a position in that game, entering that game, we want to be in a position where we can achieve what we're all aiming to achieve. That's what we want. We want England fans flooding across the Channel to Paris to come and watch the team in a massive encounter on the final round with the opportunity to achieve what we want.”

The message is simple but demanding. Focus on each step, prepare properly, and attack the tournament with bravery.

“I’ve said this many times, but I think this team has the potential to be an outstanding team. We have players in there with huge amounts of talent, and whilst we’re still reasonably low on experience at Test level, as they get used to Test rugby their growth is going to be enormous. I’m really pleased at how the players are embracing how we want to play, and taking the game on. I want them to attack this tournament, and I talked earlier on about them coming in with a mindset to play brave, and attack this tournament.”

That mindset has been shaped not just on the training field, but through learning from outside the sport. Borthwick recently spent time with the Red Arrows, an experience that reinforced ideas around clarity, feedback and character.

“There was lots of things learned. I'll share a couple. I mentioned their debriefing. They were so clear and to the point about what they must do better. Recognising what they did well but so clear about what they need to improve and the environment that was created to provide critical feedback to get better.

“The lead pilot of the team talking about what he wants from his team members and how much time he spent talking. He talked us through at the start of the day about the selection procedure of Red Arrows pilots and he basically said every one of these pilots is a great pilot, what we're going to select on is going to be the character of these people and I thought how great that is and how consistent that is with what we do.

"We want tremendous characters in our team and I feel right now we have that and hard workers as people who are diligent and who want to get better.”

England may not have all the answers yet, but they believe in the direction they are heading. This Six Nations will test that belief early, and often.