In a bold move, the highly respected fullback, Mike Brown, has thrown his support behind a call to have head coach Steve Borthwick reconsider Owen Farrell's captaincy for England as they gear up for the 2024 Six Nations.
Brown contends that by implementing the right systems, England can become strong contenders for both the Six Nations championship and even the world title within the next four years.
Brown began in his column for the Mail Online: "England can be serious challengers for the World Cup in 2027. 100 per cent. The talent is there. I see it in the Premiership every week.
"They just need to put the right systems and playing style in place to step up."
New captain and vice-captain:
Brown wrote: "I’d love to see Ellis Genge take over as skipper. He’s the right age, the players like him and he speaks openly and honestly. Maybe Ben Earl could be his back-up because he also speaks well and he’s been the breakthrough player with the potential to become world class."
Ellis Genge, Captain of England during the Summer Nations Series Rugby match between Wales and England at Principality Stadium on August 5, 2023 in Cardiff, Wales. Photo: Phil Mingo/PPAUK
New backline:
Brown wrote: "I’d love to see Cadan Murley and Tommy Freeman come in on the wings. Manu Tuilagi won’t be around forever and Joe Marchant is going to France, so do you bring back Henry Slade? They desperately need to start building some depth there.
"Freeman could be even be an option at 13, alongside Will Joseph and Dan Kelly. There are some great tries being scored in the Premiership and these guys have the ability to develop another dimension to the attack."
Smith fullback experiment over:
Brown wrote: "You can’t build a style by swapping Marcus Smith and Freddie Steward around at full back every week because they’re so different.
"I don’t think Smith is the long-term full back. He has not played in any really testing games. Fiji tested him a little bit and he didn’t pass the test for me. His decision-making at the back was exposed a few times and you can’t get away with that against the top teams."
Marcus Smith of England during the England World Cup Squad Announcement at Twickenham Stadium, London on Monday 7th August 2023 (Photo: George Beck/PPAUK)
Quiz! Can you name the 20 most-capped men's England players?
Several of these individuals have participated, or are presently participating, in the contemporary era of rugby.
Can you identify how many of the top 20 most-capped England rugby players you can name?
We've supplied the total number of caps and their respective playing positions for each player. Your task is simply to complete their surnames.
You have a 5-minute window to attempt to guess all 20 players.
