Steve Borthwick names his final team of the Six Nations this afternoon, still bathing in the warm glow of his side’s famous win over Ireland at Twickenham last Saturday.
For the first time in the tournament, there is a real positivity in the air around an England side who put together a proper 80-minute performance, in both attack and defence.
That does not mean changes have not been mooted. Marcus Smith’s livewire display off the bench on Saturday has led to calls for him to take the No 10 shirt from George Ford.
However, as reported yesterday, Borthwick is keen to avoid any unenforced changes and we are expecting him to name 14 of 15 players who started last weekend’s win.
Despite a poor kicking performance, Ford’s accurate passing was a key factor in launching England’s finest attacking display in nearly five years and it appears Borthwick is ready to keep faith in the veteran playmaker.
The only player to miss out is the exciting Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, with the winger self-reporting symptoms of concussion in the wake of his sparkling international debut.
“Manny is out with a head knock,” confirmed Richard Wigglesworth, the England attack coach, on Tuesday at Pennyhill Park.
“He felt a bit groggy so he is unfortunately ruled out of the game, but we don’t take any risks with that sort of stuff. He’s out but otherwise everybody else trained.
“He’s obviously gutted but being the smart lad he is, he reported his symptoms so we’re not taking any risks,” Wigglesworth added of Feyi-Waboso. “He did the right thing but he’s disappointed because he was excited to try and play away in France.”
Elliot Daly appears the most likely candidate to come in for Feyi-Waboso, while there could also be room on the bench for Manu Tuilgai in what could well be his final appearance in an England shirt.