Elliot Daly is likely to replace the injured Immanuel Feyi-Waboso for England’s final Six Nations match against France on Saturday, with Steve Borthwick expected to keep changes to a minimum.
Feyi-Waboso is unavailable for the fixture in Lyon after self-reporting symptoms of concussion with his probable replacement being Daly, who started England’s three previous matches and came off the bench against Ireland.
England’s bench impressed against Ireland, none more so than Marcus Smith who kicked the winning drop-goal at the death and while the Harlequins fly-half is pushing to start, the expectation is that Borthwick will want to reward George Ford along with the rest the side who clinched the most impressive win of his tenure to date.
Borthwick is also without the 20-year-old Chandler Cunningham-South, who has come off the bench in all four matches to date and caught the eye with his powerful ball carrying. His place on the bench could go to Northampton’s Alex Coles, who was a replacement in the victories against Wales and Italy, while the uncapped Guy Pepper is an option, as are Ethan Roots and Charlie Ewels.
England head to France with an unlikely shot at winning the Six Nations title if Ireland slip up against Scotland but the fact they are even in contention on the final day for the first time since 2020 represents progress. After the victory against Ireland, Ben Earl – who was named man of the match – rounded on England’s critics, saying: “Apparently we are the worst England team ever. We have done well for that accolade.”
The No 8 stands by his comment but has admitted that adopting such a mentality is not sustainable as England go in search of a first win against Les Bleus in France since 2016.
“That motivation of proving people wrong is a pretty myopic, short‑term [approach] that lasts one, maybe two weeks at most,” Earl said. “Steve [Borthwick] would never let us stand still and say, ‘you know what boys, we have had a great result, let’s have a week on the beers and not train that much’.
“Last week counts for nothing if you lose this week, or not even lose but play poorly. The best teams back it up, we want to be one of the best teams in the world.
“We’re four games in now, and defensively, offensively we feel like we’re really gelling together. It’s quite exciting to know you’ve not really scratched the surface and you’re only going to get better.”
