Europe is testing ground as Borthwick looks for Six Nations winning blend

Maybe Elon Musk is the man to revive English rugby union. He already believes he has the solutions to most of the universe’s biggest problems so reforming a mere sports team should be a piece of futuristic cake. Throw £40bn at it, take over the comms department and stick the Rugby Football Union’s finest on a rocket ship to Mars? It’s an easy game, megalomania.

Back in the real world, of course, nothing is ever quite that straightforward. Even AI cannot identify why England keep struggling to maximise their resources because there is no one simple explanation. As Steve Borthwick prepares to unveil his Six Nations squad on Tuesday, it is again less about the individuals per se than finding the right blend to enable the collective to flourish.

Mark McCall, Saracens’ seasoned director of rugby, was instructive on that subject this week in the context of his own team’s looming Champions Cup pool visit to Thomond Park. Reflecting on his personal lack of joy in Limerick as a player or a coach, he offered the following theory as to why. “What I’ve always admired about Munster – and every team wants to do this – is that they’re a team who can be better than the sum of their parts. They’re absolute masters of it.”

When did anyone last say that about England? Probably not on a consistent basis since 2003 when they also had a generational bunch of players. Unselfish characters such as Richard Hill, Trevor Woodman and Steve Thompson supplied the grit and craft that made life easier for Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson and Jason Robinson and, together, the whole squad ascended to rugby heaven.

Two decades later Borthwick has some twinkling stars of his own but aligning them has been trickier. Off the field this is still a harmonious squad containing plenty of very nice, talented people and a raft of hard-grafting coaches. Lacking has been the catalyst to turn all that latent promise into shiny, happy fulfilment.

There is an argument that this might just be on the verge of happening. All last year’s near misses do indeed suggest Borthwick’s England are not a million miles away and the more you think about it, the simpler the equation becomes. If England somehow conquer Dublin in their opening Six Nations fixture on 1 February, anything will suddenly be possible again. Three home games followed by a trip to Cardiff on the final weekend would be an opportunity crying out to be grasped.

So how to turn that sizeable “if” into turbo-charged progress? If it does not help that Manny Feyi-Waboso, George Furbank and Sam Underhill will all be unavailable, while Ollie Chessum again does not feature in a match-day lineup this weekend, there is some good news for Borthwick. Alex Mitchell, England’s No 1 scrum-half, is back fit while Freddie Steward has looked in good nick for Leicester and can easily slot in for Furbank. Tommy Freeman and Ollie Sleightholme would complete a complementary back three.

The front five is pretty settled, too, with Jamie George back to his proactive old self with Saracens lately. The same is true of Maro Itoje, with big George Martin around to add further ballast. If the reliable Ellis Genge and Will Stuart do not start against the Irish it will only be because others have been training out of their skins. If Chessum is fit enough before the tournament to play at No 6, the lineout should be an area of strength and Steward’s aerial skills are also well documented.

All of which leaves Borthwick just seeking the right occupants of the other pivotal spots in the back row, at fly-half and at centre to make the whole machine purr. His squad will contain relatively few surprises – cohesion remains his preferred modus operandi – but, equally, he needs to get some key decisions spot on, the first being his best starting back row.

England head coach Steve Borthwick announces his Six Nations squad on Tuesday. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

That answer could be crystallised by the aforementioned Munster-Saracens contest. If the in-form Tom Willis and Ben Earl have storming games, the argument for starting them both back in Ireland in three weeks will be strengthened, with McCall among the interested parties who can see it working.

“Could they both play for England? Yes. And together? Yes, I think they can. They do it every week here. But there is formidable competition in the England back row, particularly in the seven position with the Currys and Sam Underhill. Steve has some really interesting choices and some decisions to take. He has just got to decide whether they fit into the way he wants to play.”

Willis at No 8 with Earl riding shotgun – the pair switch around at scrum time depending on the game situation – would certainly offer Ireland a slightly different picture, rather than just trying to replicate last year’s game at Twickenham. On that particular day Earl, wearing No 8, was man of the match with Marcus Smith’s last-gasp drop goal sealing a 23-22 home win.

With either Tom or Ben Curry and Chandler Cunningham-South on the bench, England would be guaranteed plenty of second-half energy in reserve. Which leaves the eternal midfield triangle. Much has been murmured about Marcus and Fin Smith but the former performed well enough in the autumn to justify retaining the No 10 shirt for the tournament’s opening rounds. That said, he cannot keep trying to do it all on his own. What he really needs is other outlets to relieve some of the pressure he inevitably attracts and an enhanced sense of defensive solidity around him.

So with Mitchell back, Freeman and Sleightholme on the wings and Fin Smith on the bench, there could be a case for another Saint, Fraser Dingwall, to act as a calming presence should the centre partnership between Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade finally be judged to have run its course. If England are to pump up the new year volume they need Lawrence and Steward storming across the gainline at full tilt with Ireland’s forwards already rocked backwards by the aggressive intent of a pumped up visiting pack.

There also remains the small matter of refining the kinks in England’s defensive system but from the second he names his squad Borthwick will be preaching only New-Testament positives. Get up in startled Irish faces, raise the tempo, win the aerial duels and feast on the knockdowns and who says England will be guaranteed Six Nations also-rans this year? Make a sufficiently bold statement in Dublin and even Elon may start taking an interest.