Now we’re in the thick of it.
No-one would ever accuse England of going under the radar with their rugby.
Eddie Jones has named a match-day squad of 23 to face Scotland in Sunday’s Six Nations clash and included a captain, three vice captains and eight ‘finishers’. All that’s missing is a bulldog and a beef-eater hat.
Scarily, from a Scottish perspective, Jonathan Joseph, Jack Nowell and Ben Youngs all return to the starting line-up as three changes from the team that initially struggled against Italy before putting them away.
Even more scarily, Jones has included Anthony Watson and brutalising back-row Billy Vunipola on his replacements [or finishers] bench.
Another England victory would put them within a game of clinching another Grand Slam and equal the world record for Test victories. Jones, though, insists England are only thinking or turning over the in-form Scots and claiming another Calcutta Cup. He said:
“Our preparation for Scotland has been very good. We had two excellent training runs in Oxford last week and followed that up this week.
“We’re focused on ourselves; we want to give our fans a really good performance. We’ve worked hard in this Six Nations and feel like a good performance is just around the corner.”
If that good performance does arrive, Test win No.18 should follow. Then… a trip to Dublin to play Ireland.
ENGLAND
15. Mike Brown (vice captain, Harlequins, 58 caps)
14. Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 21 caps)
13. Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 31 caps)
12. Owen Farrell (vice captain, Saracens, 50 caps)
11. Elliot Daly (Wasps, 11 caps)
10. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 33 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 68 caps)
1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 49 caps)
2. Dylan Hartley (captain, Northampton Saints, 82 caps)
3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 72 caps)
4. Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 40 caps)
5. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 56 caps)
6. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 10 caps)
7. James Haskell (Wasps, 73 caps)
8. Nathan Hughes (Wasps, 6 caps)
Replacements: Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Kyle Sinckler, Tom Wood, Billy Vunipola, Danny Care, Ben Te’o, Anthony Watson
