England’s head coach Stuart Lancaster opted for experience in the 50-man party that began preparing for the biggest tournament of their collective lives in May 2015.
Everybody remembers the high-profile omissions with Danny Cipriani and Luther Burrell being dumped on the eve of the tournament.
However, there were some players involved in the build-up that you might not remember.
1. Maro Itoje
What a disaster for Lancaster. He had a world-class player in his hands who ready to take the world by storm, but instead he opted for out-of-form, injury-prone Geoff Parling. After not being given an opportunity by Lancaster, he’d make his debut under Eddie Jones in the 2016 Six Nations, and, yeah, he’s now arguably the best player in the world.