Lump on the French.Wales 9/4
England 5/2
France 11/4
Ireland 5/1
Scotland 50/
Italy 200/1
England: Mike Brown; Jack Nowell, Luther Burrell, Billy Twelvetrees, Jonny May; Owen Farrell, Danny Care; Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Tom Wood, Chris Robshaw, Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: Tom Youngs, Mako Vunipola, Henry Thomas, Dave Attwood, Ben Morgan, Lee Dickson, Brad Barritt, Alex Goode.
Jack, I'd like you to meet Luther; Luther this is Jack. Oh, Jonny, you haven't met either ...
Big ask against France first up. Good luck guys.
There's going to be a lot of expectation and pressure on Farrell and Care with such an inexperienced back line. Care's often played in fits and starts, hopefully he can show some of the invention he has like he did against Clermont a couple of weeks ago.
Perhaps surprising Ashton or Youngs don't even make the bench, although Ashton's needed to be dropped for a while. Hopefully it'll be the kick up the backside he needs. Barritt's a solid but uninspiring centre. But by and large the other options are kids or other kids.
The French are going with an uncapped 22 year old fly half ahead of Trin-Duc, so it'll be an interesting game. Difficult to call. Is it going to rain in Paris on Saturday?
There's going to be a lot of expectation and pressure on Farrell and Care with such an inexperienced back line. Care's often played in fits and starts, hopefully he can show some of the invention he has like he did against Clermont a couple of weeks ago.
Perhaps surprising Ashton or Youngs don't even make the bench, although Ashton's needed to be dropped for a while. Hopefully it'll be the kick up the backside he needs. Barritt's a solid but uninspiring centre. But by and large the other options are kids or other kids.
The French are going with an uncapped 22 year old fly half ahead of Trin-Duc, so it'll be an interesting game. Difficult to call. Is it going to rain in Paris on Saturday?
Care really needs to step up for England. At club level he's been far and away the best English scrum half for a few years now but never quite shows that on the international stage.
I'm not 100% convinced that him and Farrell are a good match, but I think they are the two best options in those positions so it makes sense.
Big calls with the rest of the backs (other than super Mikey Brown of course). Not quite sure what Nowell has done to deserve a call up (he hasn't even scored a Premiership try has he?) but people seem to rate him so we shall see. May isn't particularly exciting either but he's scored tries this year so again probably a fair choice.
As for Burrell I can't say I've seen much of him, but I'm assuming he's going to be the muscle to 36s flair.
In other news, I'm delighted Quins have signed Yarde as he looks a quality prospect, but also keep an eye out for Charlie Walker (already at Quins having come through the yoof system). He's rapid and starting to look like a very good finisher.
Care really needs to step up for England. At club level he's been far and away the best English scrum half for a few years now but never quite shows that on the international stage.
I'm not 100% convinced that him and Farrell are a good match, but I think they are the two best options in those positions so it makes sense.
Big calls with the rest of the backs (other than super Mikey Brown of course). Not quite sure what Nowell has done to deserve a call up (he hasn't even scored a Premiership try has he?) but people seem to rate him so we shall see. May isn't particularly exciting either but he's scored tries this year so again probably a fair choice.
As for Burrell I can't say I've seen much of him, but I'm assuming he's going to be the muscle to 36s flair.
In other news, I'm delighted Quins have signed Yarde as he looks a quality prospect, but also keep an eye out for Charlie Walker (already at Quins having come through the yoof system). He's rapid and starting to look like a very good finisher.
Didn't May get his debut against New Zealand? It would be a bit harsh to cast him aside after that one game where I don't remember him really having any kind of chances.
Besides, with Wade and Yarde injured we're really down to the bare bones on the wing. At least Lancaster hasn't been tempted to put Mike Brown back there.
I've not seen Burrell either, but at 6'3" and over 16 stone I suspect you're right.
Possibly in the team to counteract Matthew Bastard? Who I still think is massively overrated, by the way.
Yeah, Yarde's a great signing for Quins. They've got a lot of players coming through their academy, Luke Wallace looks promising.
No, he didn't. It was against Argentina last summer with the second(ish) string. He did OK, but needs time - he's a mercurial talent
Ah, I was confusing him with Joel Tomkins.