“He was nerveless” – Sir Ian McGeechan backs three England youngsters to be KEY players

#3. Raffi Quirke

• Age: 20
• Club: Sale Sharks
• Position: Scrum-half
• Caps: 2

A vision of the future, but still has a lot to learn.

McGeechan said: “I don’t think he will displace Ben Youngs at the start of this Six Nations, but Jones will want to bring him through in time for the 2023 World Cup, which is not much more than 18 months away.

“Even though he operated on the back foot for the whole time he was on, he did enough to suggest that he could form a superb long-term partnership with Smith, and the way he tracked play and then showed a clean pair of heels when accelerating away when he got hold of the ball shows that he is arguably a considerably more potent attacking threat than Youngs.”

EDITORS PICKS:

• Springboks could be in trouble as clip against England goes viral
• Joe Marler’s hilarious review of James Haskell’s new book
• Eddie Jones hints that Owen Farrell could be stripped of England captaincy
• 15 Rugby Stars Who Look So Different From When They Started