Six Nations 2024 LIVE: England confirm side for Wales plus Scotland and France team news

England rookie Chandler Cunningham-South was being mentored for weeks by Richard Hill without knowing he was talking to a World Cup winner.

Cunningham-South made a strong debut off the bench in Saturday’s 27-24 victory over Italy, becoming one of two flankers to win their first cap in the Guinness Six Nations opener alongside Ethan Roots.

As England team manger with the additional role of talent identification for the pathway, Hill has influenced the rise of both players as well as the likes of Sam Underhill and Tom Curry.

“There’s a huge excitement around the squad as a whole in terms of building on the performances. The courage and the endeavour to try and do things differently and play at a higher intensity was there. Steve has been having to pull us back this week because it’s England-Wales, back at Twickenham, and there’s huge excitement. Everyone wants to put their hand up. We really want to try and build on the foundations that we laid in Rome.

“I was pretty open in terms of the environment that we wanted to create, one that isn’t daunting so guys can come in and be themselves. It really impressed me how guys came and embraced that. I had a quiet word with all of them, and you could see how much it meant to those guys and how happy they were after the game. And that’s what playing for England should be about.”

“We discussed post the Italy game about the defence, a promising start. I think you saw a commitment to do things different. We’ve had two more training sessions this week and I said there were areas we’d attend to and improve upon, and that’s what we’ve done this week.

“We certainly expect Wales to deliver the standard they did in the second half against Scotland. There were mistakes in our game and through the game the team looked better and better and more cohesive. I think we expect the best of a very good Welsh team.”

Borthwick also confirms that he did not give any consideration to leaving out Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who plays the country of his birth for the first time.

“I’ve been so impressed with everyone who has come into the squad,” Jamie George says of the young Exeter wing. “Manny is an impressive guy and isn’t fazed by anything. He relishes the big occasion and is very excited for this week in particular. The way he’s fitted in is credit to him.”

“You just know when it is England vs Wales. There is a very different feel. There is a huge amount of excitement, it means a lot to people in this squad and to rugby fans in England. We are very excited to be back at Twickenham playing Wales.”

2018: England 12 - 6 Wales

Two first half tries from Jonny May and a Player of the Match performance from Mike Brown saw England take the victory at Twickenham in 2018.

Wet, wintery conditions didn’t hamper England as May found himself crossing the line twice inside 15 minutes with Own Farrell converting the second try to make it 12-0.

A penalty put Wales on the board and Warren Gatland’s team kept the home side scoreless in the second half but a resilient defensive performance from England kept their opponents at bay.

Gareth Anscombe slotted a penalty to raise hope but the whistle came too soon.

“In terms of all the players here, they are fit and available for selection. George Martin came in earlier in the week to continue his recovery and is making good progress. Manu Tuilagi progresses well, Ollie Lawrence is doing a session tomorrow with our medical team and is making progress. With both of those guys, it is monitoring on a weekly basis and as we get closer to their return, a bit more regularly than that. Marcus Smith will come back in to continue his recovery the back half of next week and hopefully will be available towards the end of the tournament.

“In many ways, while last week’s performance was far from perfect, it was a promising start, particularly from some of the younger players. With those young players and the experienced leaders, it’s important to keep that blend and build continuity and cohesion within that.”

2020: England 33 - 30 Wales

An action-packed game at Twickenham saw England secure a first Triple Crown in four years and inflicting a third successive defeat on recently appointed Wales head coach Wayne Pivac.

England lead at the break by 11 points with Anthony Watson scoring the first try of the afternoon and Owen Farrell’s conversion sending him over 900 international points.

22-seconds into the second half the Twickenham crowd were stunned as Wales scored instantly from the kick-off. Flanker Justin Tipuric sprinting home from 25 metres before Dan Biggar converted to make it a four-point game.

England pushed on with two penalties shortly and a Manu Tuilagi try before they had two men dismissed. Wales took advantage with England down to 13, scoring two late tries through Biggar and Tipuric, but these came too late closing the game 33-30.

Warren Gatland has made seven changes for Wales’ Six Nations appointment with England after a first-half display against Scotland he admitted was “nowhere near the standards we expect”.

Wales head coach Gatland named the team 24 hours earlier than originally planned, with his line-up including a new front-row and centre George North’s return from injury.

It will be North’s 50th Six Nations appearance, while fly-half Sam Costelow, who went off injured during the first half of Wales’ 27-26 loss to Scotland last weekend, is replaced by Ioan Lloyd, with Tomos Williams at scrum-half.

Co-Captain Rory Darge and second row Grant Gilchrist return to international duty on Saturday, as Scotland host France in the second round of the Six Nations at Murrayfield.

Darge, who will lead the team alongside Finn Russell, and Gilchrist’s returns comes on the back of news that Luke Crosbie and Richie Gray will miss the remainder of the championship through injury.

Scotland starting XV: 15. Kyle Rowe, 14. Kyle Steyn, 13. Huw Jones, 12. Sione Tuipulotu, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben White; 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. George Turner, 3. Zander Fagerson, 4. Grant Gilchrist, 5. Scott Cummings, 6. Matt Fagerson, 7. Rory Darge, 8. Jack Dempsey.

Replacements: 16. Ewan Ashman, 17. Alec Hepburn, 18. Elliot Millar-Mills, 19. Sam Skinner, 20. Andy Christie, 21. George Horne, 22. Ben Healy, 23. Cameron Redpath.

If not now, when? That seems to have been the question following the Scotland rugby team around for the last half-decade or so as a talented squad looks to finally mount a genuine Six Nations title challenge for the very first time.

Despite having never finished in the top two since the Five Nations became Six a quarter of a century ago, the recent vintage under Gregor Townsend have felt on the brink of doing something special.

These are no longer the dark old days of the late Noughties and early 2010s when Scotland would invariably scrap it out for the wooden spoon with Italy year after year. Recently, they often win their first game or two (one of those normally against England) to raise hopes, only to falter and be out of the running by the time Super Saturday rolls around.