While their Six Nations fate may not lie in their own hands, there is no doubting the revamped England side are looking a lot more healthy as the tournament comes to an end.
Coach Stuart Lancaster was rightly unsure of his starting line-up when the competition got underway, but his decisions to blood new players has been rewarded with steadily improving displays.
England’s only defeat came by a narrow margin in Paris and the squad have taken that hurt on board and improved by ‘nilling’ the Scots north of the border before having the guts to see out a tight home win over title rivals Ireland.
However, the balance would appear to be tipped in the favour of the Irish as the last round of games loom, thanks to healthy points difference built up by the men in green.
But the Irish go to Paris to play a French side who, like their opponents and the English, have six points on the board and can only hope a win might be enough.
England seemingly have the easiest finale as they go to Rome to take on an Italian side who have started looking a little ragged, particularly when denied the presence of inspirational No8 Sergio Parisse.
A big points haul would keep England in the hunt and who knows it could even be homegrown Huddersfield talent Luther Burrell who provides them having become one of the stars of the competition bagging three tries in his four outings.
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