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As the old saying goes, 'you never change a winning team' but that couldn't be further from the truth for Steve Borthwick's England.
As the old saying goes, 'you never change a winning team' but that couldn't be further from the truth for Steve Borthwick's England.
Following three wins on the spin at Allianz Stadium, England head to Cardiff with nine different alterations to their 23-man squad.
The whole backline apart from the 9, 10, 12 axis are all changed with George Ford surprisingly brought in from the cold and exciting tyro flanker Henry Pollock likely to make his debut from the bench.
Tommy Freeman starts at outside centre for the first time in England colours rather than picking an out and out centre combination of Fraser Dingwall and Max Ojomoh, who missed training for his club's Premiership Cup final to hold tackle bags this week.
Lack of second row's for an abundance of opensides as Hill gets cut
In recent years, England have had a problem position which had primarily been inside centre due to an over-reliance on Manu Tuilagi before it became tighthead prop, with Borthwick up until recently wheeling out 37-year-old veteran Dan Cole.
Will Stuart has performed admirably to shore up England's creaking scrum, while Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade formed a settled partnership in the centres up until the former's Achilles injury sustained last Sunday.
But now it's at lock where England's lack of depth is staggering. If Maro Itoje or Ollie Chessum go down injured at the Principality Stadium, who knows who will enter the engine room. Chandler Cunningham-South has played just six per cent of his professional career there and is much more of a back row, while neither the Curry brothers or Ben Earl fit the stature of a modern day test lock. Tom Willis, at 6ft 4inch and 120kgs, has the frame but has had zero minutes there for club or country.
The omission of Ted Hill, your traditional blindside flanker/second row, is staggering considering the few options there and given the quality of the Bath forward who has played a key role in taking his side to the summit of the Premiership.
Where's the backline versatility from the bench?
Having opted for a 6-2 bench split, one would suggest that the two back replacements selected would be able to play multiple positions. And in scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet and fly-half Ford they can play in, oh that's right, just those positions.
Ford will edge closer to becoming an England centurion on Saturday as he's set to win his 99th cap but is his place warranted over a Swiss Army knife like Henry Slade donsidering the Exeter Chief can fill in at 10, 12 or 13?
Freescoring Sleightholme left out in the cold
Penny for the thoughts of Ollie Sleightholme. The Northampton Saints flyer possesses a remarkable strike rate of five scores in eight starts following his two-try display last weekend, but has confusingly been left out of the matchday 23.
Barnstorming Willis drifts off to the bench
Tom Willis was a menace during the first half of last week's demolition of Italy, scoring an early try, winning turnovers left, right and centre to supplement his dominant carries. That was until he was replaced by Ben Curry on 46 minutes. The Sale Sharks forward put in a mesmerising cameo and it should be noted the back row is England's most competitive position but Borthwick's side have lacked a physical presence to give them front foot ball in the past.
Six Nations are for building combinations and cohesion, not wholesale changes off the back of solid performances.