15 BEN FODEN

Club: Northampton. Age: 25. Height: 6ft. Weight: 93kg (14st 9lb). Caps: 8. Deceptively powerful runner, he is very quick and if Ireland kick poorly his first inclination will be to run: dangerous in the outside channels.

14 CHRIS ASHTON

Club: Northampton. Age: 23. Height: 6ft 1in. Weight: 92kg (14st 7lb). Caps: 11. Runs gorgeous support lines and will appear all over the pitch. One of the fastest players, he will need to be marshalled vigilantly.

13 MATT BANAHAN

Club: Bath. Age: 24. Height: 6ft 7in. Weight: 112kg (17st 9lb). Caps: 10. Normally a wing, he is a real handful physically with an intelligent and dexterous offloading game. He’s quick, but Ireland will look to exploit his positional play in defence.

12 SHONTAYNE HAPE

Club: Bath. Age: 30. Height: 6ft 2in. Weight: 102kg (16st 1lb). Caps: 10. Strong in contact and likes to offload; part of a midfield who’ll look to dominate the collisions and eke out the hard yards.

11 MARK CUETO

Club: Sale. Age: 31. Height: 6ft. Weight: 94kg (14st 11lb). Caps: 49. A wing who isn’t content to patrol the touchlines, is a balanced runner with a good appreciation of space and a big left boot.

10 TOBY FLOOD

Club: Leicester. Age: 25. Height: 6ft 3in. Weight: 93kg (14st 9lb). Caps: 39. His running lines and distribution have been impressive, as has his accuracy with the placed ball: a key player in attack.

9 BEN YOUNGS

Club: Leicester. Age: 21. Height: 6ft. Weight: 92kg (14st 7lb). Caps: 11. Arguably the catalyst for England’s best attacking moments. He is a livewire presence around the fringes and quick to exploit a gap, especially off a quick tap penalty.

1 ALEX CORBISIERO

Club: London Irish. Age: 22. Height: 6ft 1in. Weight: 112kg (17st 9lb). Caps: 3. London Irish know how good he is. Contributes in every facet of the game and can play both sides of the frontrow: comfortable on the ball.

2 DYLAN HARTLEY

Club: Northampton. Age: 24. Height: 6ft 1in. Weight: 108kg (17st). Caps: 27. Can be an abrasive presence who loves the physical cut and thrust of the forward exchanges. His lineout throwing has been occasionally fragile in the past but no sign of it in the tournament.

3 DAN COLE

Club: Leicester. Age: 23. Height: 6ft 3in. Weight: 115kg (18st 1lb). Caps: 15. Noted for his ability in the tight, he makes a sizeable contribution around the pitch and plays with a whole-hearted commitment and focus.

4 LOUIS DEACON

Club: Leicester. Age: 30. Height: 6ft 6in. Weight: 115kg (18st 1lb). Caps: 22. Although he didn’t run the lineout at the Leicester Tigers in times past, he has taken on that remit with the national team to good effect: a hard-nosed, non-nonsense presence with a great work-ethic.

5 TOM PALMER

Club: Stade Francais. Age: 31. Height: 6ft 6in. Weight: 110kg (17st 4lb). Caps: 25. His move to France has seen him improve appreciably and he has excelled in this season’s Six Nations. Good out of touch, he is mobile with decent hands.

6 TOM WOOD

Club: Northampton. Age: 24. Height: 6ft 4in. Weight: 107kg (16st 12lb). Caps: 4. A voracious work-rate, he is invariably the first English player to the breakdown and is strong over the ball. Athletic, he runs good support lines and is strong on the ball.

7 JAMES HASKELL

Club: Stade Francais. Age: 25. Height: 6ft 4in. Weight: 111kg (17st 7lb). Caps: 33. Not a typical openside in that he won’t be found scrounging at the bottom of rucks, but is very quick, a dynamic ball-carrier and good tackler.

8 NICK EASTER (capt)

Club: Harlequins. Age: 32. Height: 6ft 4in. Weight: 114kg (17st 13lb). Caps: 42. He might not move as quickly as his two colleagues in the backrow, but when there’s a call for hard yards to be made, Easter (below) willl be the one in possession. Takes over captaincy from Mike Tindall.