What England Should Do In The Six Nations

I have mentioned previously that England need to experiment in the 2014 Six Nations. As it stands England have a close to world-class team but there is not the depth in the squad needed in case a crisis appears – suspensions injuries etc. There is no point playing the next Six Nations to win it, they need to experiment, to blood young players, and there is no better stage than on one of the best international tournaments in the world. Now obviously there is no point fielding a different XV every week but Stuart Lancaster knows who his key players are – he needs to play his fringe players and see how they get on.

In terms of the front row, England have probably got the strongest in the northern hemisphere. At loosehead, nothing needs changing – Alex Corbisiero, Joe Marler and Mako Vunipola would all be first choice were they in any other country so the best England can do is rotate them and see who plays best in what combination. The same at hooker – Tom Youngs and Dylan Hartley are both proven so why not play another hooker in case one of them is unavailable? Luke Cowan-Dickie is talented and young enough to stay in the England squad for years to come so give him a shot.

On the tight side of the scrum, there is a place for Sale Sharks’ Henry Thomas who many see as a future regular for England and Dan Coles’ heir. In the engine room, again England have a plethora of talent available – Courtney Lawes, Geoff Parling and Joe Launchbury – so give someone else a chance, Ed Slater perhaps.

Backrow is where it gets a bit more complex. Billy Vunipola is young and still learning so you’ll want to keep him, and while we’re at it, it’s stupid not to have some experience in the team so keep Tom Wood too - apart from Tom Croft there aren’t many blindsides who could compete for England. Time and time again Chris Robshaw’s ability has been brought up but time and time again he has proved people wrong. Will he still be there though come 2015? Matt Kvesic and Will Fraser are two names people are touting to replace him.

Danny Care and Ben Youngs are both young, 26 and 24, and Karl Dickson has been tried at international level so scrum-half isn’t a problem. Fly-half is though. England’s reliance on Owen Farrell has been too much and back-up 10s need international experience – Freddie Burns attacks more than Farrell and George Ford is a youngster with an extremely bright future ahead of him. England will probably take three fly-halves to the World Cup so give them experience.

This autumn was a prime example of why experienced players are needed. Both first-choice centres Brad Barritt and Manu Tuilagi were injured so Billy Twelvetrees and Joel Tomkins were called upon. Bar one game, Twelvetrees played well but Tomkins looked lost at international level. More players like Henry Trinder and Luther Burrell are going to have to play at some point in the near future to see who can hack it.

Just like at lock, England have a plethora of talent at fullback – Alex Goode, Mike Brown and Ben Foden, so there’s no cause for concern there. It was good to see Marland Yarde given a chance in the autumn and I’m sure Christian Wade would have been there too were it not for injury. England are unable to choose these two though due to their respective injuries so the in-form Jonny May, Jack Nowell or Charlie Walker could all run out.

These are the players I believe Stuart Lancaster should be blooding for the World Cup, but then again, I’m not an international coach, or any coach for that matter, so we’ll just have to see what he comes up with in February.