England

Best ever finish: 1st place (2000, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2020)

Grand slams won: 2 (2003 and 2016)

Last year's finish: 3rd

Head Coach: Steve Borthwick

Captain: Maro Itoje

Young player to watch: Henry Pollock

Expectation: Win a grand slam

Prediction: 1st

England come into this Six Nations on an 11-game winning streak and are many people's favourites to win the tournament. After finding form in the midst of last year's edition, Steve Borthwick's men will be looking to hit the ground running in their first game which is against Wales. 

England's strength remains in the back row with Greg Fisilau being the new addition to the unit. Guy Pepper played well at blindside flanker in the Autumn Nations Series and will probably keep his place due to to this squad only having one other player (Chandler Cunningham-South) who can fulfill his role within the back row. Pepper has been in better form than Cunningham-South and is now trusted by Borthwick which puts him in pole position to start. Underhill and Earl started alongside him in those games with Pollock and Tom Curry coming off the bench. That unit is a big difference-maker for this team and that doesn't look set to change.

The second row will be bolstered by the return of Ollie Chessum who is in fine form having taken on the role of captain at Leicester. He'll likely join Itoje and Coles, who has earned his spot over the past year, in the 23-man squad. Arthur Clark was capped in the summer, and has been selected ahead of the likes of Ben Bamber, but he is quite clearly the 4th choice in this group.

The front row is where the big questions exist. Hooker looks fairly set; it has been for a few years. Cowan-Dickie and George will be in the matchday squad in whichever position that Borthwick chooses. He may stick with his recent tactic of starting with George and finishing with the physicality of Cowan-Dickie. The prop department has been hit with 3 big injuries: Baxter, Opoku-Fordjour and Stuart are all out injured. This has allowed Iyogun, Sela and Davison to come into the squad. I still expect Genge and Heyes to start with Rodd and Davison preferred to Sela and Iyogun as a result of their international experience.

The 9 and 10 positions will probably remain the same with Mitchell and Ford starting. England's 6-2 bench split could give Marcus Smith the nod over Fin Smith. Ben Spencer will likely be on the bench alongside him. The midfield combination is perhaps the most debatable part of this team. It's quickly changed from a problem area to a strength of the team with an abundance of options. Ojomoh impressed on debut against Argentina last year but there are other options. Atkinson and Slade did well together away in Argentina in the summer but Dingwall and Freeman are also an exciting duo with familiarity due to playing together at Northampton. Borthwick seems to be leaning towards having Tommy Freeman being his permanent 13 option. That could help Dingwall to secure the position of inside centre. 

Steward and Furbank are the options at fullback and it's once again a question of style and balance for the team. Dingwall or Ojomoh playing at inside centre gives England a second play-maker which means that the creativity of Furbank is less crucial. Atkinson is more of a running centre which could harm Steward's chances of making the XV. On the wing, Feyi-Waboso is practically nailed-on to start but the identity of the other winger is up in the air. Roebuck and Arundell are the main contenders; Arundell is an electric runner but Roebuck is perfectly built for England's kicking game. 

This England team is as strong as it's been in the Steve Borthwick era and looks set to compete for what would be a rare England grand-slam.

Squad

LHP: Ellis Genge, Emmanuel Iyogun, Bevan Rodd

HKR: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Theo Dan, Jamie George

THP: Trevor Davison, Joe Heyes, Billy Sela

Lock: Arthur Clark, Ollie Chessum, Alex Coles, Maro Itoje(C)

Back row: Ben Curry*, Tom Curry, Chandler Cunningham-South, Ben Earl, Greg Fisilau, Guy Pepper, Henry Pollock, Sam Underhill

Scrum-half: Alex Mitchell, Ben Spencer, Jack van Poortvliet

Fly-half: George Ford, Fin Smith*, Marcus Smith

Centre: Seb Atkinson, Fraser Dingwall, Ollie Lawrence*, Max Ojomoh, Henry Slade

Back 3: Henry Arundell, Elliot Daly, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Cadan Murley, Tom Roebuck*, Freddie Steward

 Potential 23-man squad

1.Ellis Genge 2.Luke Cowan-Dickie 3.Joe Heyes 4.Maro Itoje(C) 5.Ollie Chessum

6.Guy pepper 7.Sam Underhill 8.Ben Earl 9.Alex Mitchell 10.George Ford

11.Immanuel Feyi-Waboso 12.Max Ojomoh 13.Ollie Lawrence 14.Tommy Freeman 15.George Furbank

Bench

16.Jamie George 17.Emmanuel Iyogun 18.Billy Sela 19.Alex Coles

20.Tom Curry 21.Henry Pollock 22.Ben Spencer 23.Marcus Smith