Six Nations: Can injury-hit England ride momentum to Grand Slam?

England enter 2026 with expectations high and opportunities aplenty to maintain their upward trajectory under Steve Borthwick.

Their year begins with a Six Nations campaign in which they are leading the charge to dethrone champions France, whom they face in the tournament finale in Paris on March 14.

Arriving at the Stade de France with a shot at a first Grand Slam in a decade still on the table feels like the minimum requirement for an England side steadily on the rise.

After all, they boast an 11‑game winning streak stretching back to last season's Six Nations, a run that includes a standout victory over New Zealand.

For those ambitions to be realised, however, a fresh set of challenges must be overcome - tests that will offer the latest measure of progress under Borthwick and a snapshot of the state of English rugby a year out from the Rugby World Cup.

An untimely front‑row injury crisis has ended the tournaments of tightheads Will Stuart (Achilles) and Asher Opoku‑Fordjour (shoulder) before they even began, while loosehead Fin Baxter's participation hangs in the balance after calf surgery.

As a result, the strength in depth Borthwick has cultivated over the past 12 months faces an immediate and searching examination, but it is a challenge he has no option but to embrace.