England open their 2024 Six Nations campaign by travelling to face Italy in Rome at Twickenham on Saturday, February 3 (2.15pm); below we look at Steve Borthwick's side in depth, discussing what's changed, what's hot, what's not, their championship record and squad news
Saturday 3 February 2024 12:58, UK
England head into the 2024 Six Nations with head coach Steve Borthwick seeking big improvements on the last three years, but after a lot of disruption...
In each of their last three Six Nations campaigns, England have lost three from five fixtures, finishing fifth in 2021, third but well off the top two of France and Ireland in 2022, and fourth in 2023.
There has been plenty of change ahead of the 2024 championship, with England having finished third at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, albeit having stuttered through a far softer side of the draw, avoiding the world's top five sides until the semi-finals.
Here, Sky Sports takes a closer look at how England are shaping up ahead of their opening match against Italy in Rome...
The biggest change heading into this Six Nations is that Owen Farrell, Borthwick's unequivocal pick as captain and fly-half, has made himself unavailable for international selection.
Borthwick chose his former Saracens team-mate Farrell despite some patchy form, but the latter's captaincy under the current head coach has been a rollercoaster, filled with suspensions, red cards, lack of form (both personal and of the team) and scrutiny into his interaction with referees and place-kicking.
In November, 112-cap Farrell caused a major shock by announcing his decision and saying he was taking a break to prioritise his and his family's mental well-being.
Since then, Farrell's transfer to Racing 92 in France for next season has been confirmed, and owing to the RFU's selection policy - which mirrors New Zealand and Ireland - only players who play their club rugby within England are eligible for selection. Meaning Farrell, in all likelihood, has already played his final game for England, much to Borthwick's acute frustration no doubt.
Saracens hooker Jamie George has been named the new England captain, beating off the likes of Maro Itoje, Ellis Genge and George Ford to land the role.
Another big change comes in the coaching set-up, where Borthwick's righthand man Kevin Sinfield - with whom he won the Premiership title at Leicester - has been announced as departing at the end of the season, and his role has been changed from defence coach to skills/kicking coach.
Sinfield, an undoubtedly inspirational figure and leader who reached the top of his sport, looked set to be the next big rugby-league-to-rugby-union defence coach convert. Wigan rugby league greats Shaun Edwards and Andy Farrell have proven two of the best rugby union defence coaches in the world, enjoying massive success with Wales, France, the British and Irish Lions and Ireland. Yet, it has not quite worked out like that for Sinfield.
England have struggled, and just over a year into his contract, it was confirmed the 43-year-old will depart at the end of this season, with Borthwick commenting Sinfield is "heading in a different direction away from the England rugby team".
The incoming Felix Jones - hired from South Africa - has taken over the defence with immediate effect, having previously worked as a backs and attack coach with Munster, and as a coaching consultant with South Africa under Jacques Nienaber. As such, this will be Jones' first coaching role specialising only in defence.
It is all a bit odd. Borthwick's trusted No 2 has been seemingly demoted and will leave, but not until the summer, while Jones will come in to perform the job Sinfield was doing, having never held such a role previously.
In terms of the squad, four players have retired since the World Cup in Courtney Lawes, Jonny May, Ben Youngs and Mako Vunipola, while a number of talented players have become ineligible due to signing with clubs in France (more on that below) in Henry Arundell, Joe Marchant, Jack Willis and David Ribbans.
England head into the championship under a fair degree of pressure to perform, but also under the radar in terms the need to compete, which potentially is not the worst place to be in.
Coming away from the World Cup with bronze medals - whatever their route to the semi-finals - can only be good for the morale of the squad, while the form of the Premiership's clubs in the European Cup so far this season has been the best in several years.
Out of eight clubs from the pool stages, six have made the last 16 in Northampton, Harlequins, Exeter, Bath, Saracens and Leicester - the first three as top-eight seeds who will have home advantage come April. France's Top 14 sides, who have utterly dominated Europe over the last few years, have five clubs through.
Within that uptick in performance is a number of outstanding displays by young, exciting players, with bags of potential.
One has only to look at Northampton Saints - top of the Premiership and top of their Champions Cup pool - to see the talent Borthwick has the chance to properly introduce to the Test arena.
Five of the Saints' backline have made the England squad in scrum-half Alex Mitchell, fly-half Fin Smith, centre Fraser Dingwall, wing Tommy Freeman and full-back George Furbank.
At Exeter, the recalled Henry Slade has played some inspired rugby so far this campaign, while England also won the battle over Exeter's Cardiff-born-and-raised wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso - the 21-year-old looks a superb prospect.
There has been a fair degree of change to the England squad, but do not bet against some players having an immediate impact.
The absence of Farrell and coaching disruptions aside, two other negatives for England heading into the championship are injuries, and the quality of players who are ineligible.
As mentioned above, the RFU's selection criteria dictates that any player playing outside of England will not be eligible for selection to the England Test side.
With the demise of three Premiership clubs in Worcester, Wasps and London Irish in the space of a single season, however, players have been forced into positions of needing to look for contracts quickly.
Willis was one such player, joining Toulouse from Wasps, while wing Arundell joined Racing 92 from London Irish.
Willis was given dispensation to continue playing for England for the remainder of the season in which he switched (22/23), due to the circumstances he found himself in, but in both Willis and Arundell's situations, the players have signed renewed terms in France after their initial deals, and thus will not be available to Borthwick.
Former Harlequins centre Marchant, who started six games for England at the World Cup, has since joined Stade Francais and will also no longer be an option during the Six Nations. Nor will former Northampton lock Ribbans, who has moved to Toulon.
One has only to look at Arundell's quality and potential to see what a huge blow his absence is, with his fresh Racing 92 deal through to 2026. The 21-year-old exploded onto the scene, notching 11 tries in his breakthrough season with London Irish at the age of 19, and scoring a sensational try on his England debut vs Australia that summer.
A further try arrived for England in the 2023 Six Nations against Italy as a replacement under Borthwick, but opportunities proved limited, even after Arundell scored five tries in one Test vs Chile at the World Cup.
Arundell scored a hat-trick on his Racing debut, and has six tries in seven Top 14 starts so far. What a talent England and Borthwick appear to have let slip.
Willis has developed into one of the best breakdown forwards in European rugby, and that despite suffering two horrific knee injuries. Since joining Toulouse, he has become a French league champion and a mainstay in one of the strongest club sides around. Despite that, his contract with Toulouse through to 2025 will preclude him from the England jersey.
Some have called on England to change their selection policy, but doing so could well open the floodgates of English talent departing to France and elsewhere, negatively impacting the English clubs' ability to compete.
A further bout of chaos for England ahead of the Six Nations is there is something of a loosehead prop injury crisis.
Bevan Rodd (toe) and Val Rapava-Ruskin (knee) will miss the entire championship, Joe Marler has been struggling with an arm injury, while Mako Vunipola has retired. Genge has been out with a hamstring injury too, but thankfully appears close to a return.
On Monday, fly-half Marcus Smith was seen in crutches having limped out of training and is now considered a major doubt for England's tournament opener in Rome.
Ollie Lawrence (centre, hip), Manu Tuilagi (centre, groin) and Tom Curry (back-row, hip) are three other absentees, with the former two hoping to return during the championship after missing the start, and the latter out for the season. All three have been crucial performers for England and will be missed.
Six Nations since 2000: Seven-time winners (2000, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2020).
Overall: 29 outright wins (1883, 1884, 1892, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1930, 1934, 1937, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1980, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2020).
Forwards (20): Jamie Blamire, Ollie Chessum, Dan Cole, Alex Coles, Chandler Cunningham-South, Ben Curry, Theo Dan, Alex Dombrandt, Ben Earl, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Jamie George (c), Joe Heyes, Maro Itoje, Joe Marler, Beno Obano, Tom Pearson, Ethan Roots, Will Stuart, Sam Underhill.
Backs (16): Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Fraser Dingwall, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, George Ford, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Alex Mitchell, Will Muir, Max Ojomoh, Tom Roebuck, Henry Slade, Fin Smith, Marcus Smith, Ben Spencer, Freddie Steward.
