Six Nations: George disappointed to lose England captaincy to Itoje

Borthwick says it is a matter of when, not if, he appears and thrives at Test level.

“Henry is an excellent player,” Borthwick said of Pollock.

“We’re intent on this guy being an England player for a very long time. Not necessarily this week or next week, we want to make sure this player in in an England shirt for a very long time.”

Prop Dan Cole is at the opposite end of is career. The 37-year-old was left out of the squad with Leicester team-mate Joe Heyes and Sale youngster Asher Opoku-Fordjour preferred as tighthead options, but Borthwick insists Cole can still add to his 118 caps.

“There’s always a hunger for Dan to be involved with England and help England,” he said.

“I know he’d be disappointed but I also know that should we need him he’ll be straight in and ready to go.”

Overall, Borthwick resisted making widespread changes with 32 of his 36-strong group involved in squads for the autumn internationals or listed among those that would have been in contention for the campaign had they not been injured.

He says that continuity is crucial for England to develop the entertaining, attacking game they want to play and they are taking lessons from their first opponents in this year’s Six Nations.

“You see the cohesiveness and consistency they’ve had in the Ireland team for many years – a number of them play together at Leinster,” added Borthwick.

“We have to build that cohesiveness and the way we want to play. I think point of difference is going to be around the way we attack and move the ball.

“You look at the athleticism and the speed this England team has and has developed through 2024.

“How well you know each other, how cohesive you are and how many games you’ve played together just helps you to be more effective as an attacking team.”

Hear more analysis on England’s Six Nations squad from Ugo Monye, Chris Ashton and Chris Jones in Rugby Union Weekly’s latest episode, out on Tuesday evening.