My only proviso for Borthwick's England Six Nations squad – Andy Goode

Steve Borthwick’s first England squad of a new era strikes the perfect balance between continuity and freshness but now the evolution in style has to follow suit.

Of course, everyone associated with England wants them to win the 2024 Six Nations but the first one after a World Cup is always unpredictable and there’s no point picking the likes of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tom Roebuck and Oscar Beard, together with the likes of Marcus Smith, Alex Mitchell and Ollie Lawrence, and not letting them play their natural game.

Everyone will be expecting France or Ireland to lift the title, and the winner to probably be determined by their epic encounter on the opening day of the tournament in Marseille, so England need to take the opportunity to fly under the radar as much as is possible and finally develop a more expansive game plan.

The French and Irish have been head and shoulders above the rest for a couple of years now and naturally have more consistency in selection but England have 17 players returning from their World Cup squad, 10 in the forwards and seven in the backs, with some new names injecting real excitement.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso of Exeter Chiefs warms up prior to the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Exeter Chiefs and Bristol Bears at Sandy Park on November 05, 2023 in Exeter, England. (Photo by Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)

The Feyi-Waboso tug of war between England and Wales was high-profile but Roebuck is arguably a more Borthwick type of player on the wing and I think it’s in the forwards where we might see a couple more fresh faces.

It might be too soon for the likes of Ethan Roots and Chandler Cunningham-South to break into the team but they’re there on merit and it’ll be great experience for them. Tom Pearson is likely to be hammering the door down though after getting just a sniff in the lead up to the World Cup.

Joe Heyes has been playing well for Leicester and will be putting pressure on his team-mate and a man almost old enough to be his dad, Dan Cole, and Will Stuart is in pole position to lock down the number three jersey.

Prop has been a position of concern, with a number of injuries and a lack of talent coming through, but Beno Obano was strong at scrum time for Bath last week and Ellis Genge and Joe Marler are also back for more on the loosehead side.

It’s good to see Luke Cowan-Dickie back but he’ll do well to get past Theo Dan and fellow Saracen Jamie George is an obvious choice as skipper, predominantly because he’s one of only a few shoo-ins to start but also because he’s such a good bloke and is universally respected.

He’ll lead in a very different way to his good mate Owen Farrell but I think that’ll be a refreshing change and perhaps take the pressure off a few of the new faces as they’re hopefully allowed to express themselves and not fear making mistakes.

The fact that there’s not really been any great outcry about certain individuals missing out probably tells you all you need to know about the squad selection and I think Joe Cokanasiga is the unluckiest to miss out.

He offers a point of difference on the wing and has been back in brilliant form but probably misses out because of his defensive ability and a lack of versatility compared to the likes of Beard, Tommy Freeman, Elliot Daly and co.

Alfie Barbeary would surely have been included had it not been for his ban, and Borthwick has hinted as much, so I fully expect him to be in an England squad very soon as they’re not blessed with too many other big ball carriers.

It’ll be a surprise to some that Billy Vunipola was overlooked in favour of Alex Dombrandt but he and Borthwick have had their issues in the past and the 31-year-old didn’t have much impact at the World Cup and hasn’t been in top form since his return to club rugby.

That probably means Ben Earl is favourite to continue in the number eight shirt and if George Martin was fit, I think we’d have seen one of Ollie Chessum or Maro Itoje starting at blindside with Pearson or Ben Curry at openside.

Ollie Chessum and George Martin with England at the Rugby World Cup (Photo by Hans van der Valk/BSR Agency/Getty Images)

With Martin, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Watson, Raffi Quirke and Jack van Poortvliet all named under the banner of rehabilitation, I think it’ll be a more fluid squad than in previous Six Nations and the fact that there aren’t any Premiership fixtures between the start and end of the tournament for the first time means that’s much easier to manage.

Ben Spencer’s recall is long overdue and you’d have no qualms about him going straight into the starting XV but Alex Mitchell has done enough to hold on to the number nine jersey and Danny Care is still in good enough form to take a spot on the bench.

Most important of all though, Marcus Smith absolutely has to start at fly half. He is tearing up trees again, doesn’t have to worry about a Farrell-sized shadow looming over him and has the potential to ignite England’s backline if given the keys to do so.

Henry Slade has been exceptional for Exeter this season and responded to his World Cup exclusion in the perfect manner so I can’t see past a centre combination of him and Lawrence, which is a mouth-watering prospect outside Smith.

George Furbank is another who’s earned his recall and excelled in a leadership role for Saints but Freddie Steward is surely nailed on to start at full back with both wing spots up for grabs depending how well Freeman, Roebuck, Daly and Feyi-Waboso go in training.

Marcus Smith (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

All in all, it’s hard to see how you can pick a squad like that and play in a similar way to how England have gone about their business so far under Borthwick but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

You’d hope Borthwick can continue to get the forwards well drilled and on the front foot and Smith can convince him that he has what it takes to manage a game as well as sprinkle the stardust we know he has the capability to.

He has it all in his locker and deserves to be given the responsibility of taking England forward into a new era during this Six Nations. The rest of the squad contains all the tools Smith needs to win games and excite fans, now we need to see the coaches unleash its potential.