"Heartbroken" - England scrum-half Raffi Quirke suffers yet another injury setback

Notably, Quirke had previously endured a six-month absence from the field due to a hamstring injury that necessitated surgery, with the muscle detaching from the bone.

He made a triumphant return in October 2022 but was soon sidelined once again, this time with a wrist injury, which further hindered his rugby prospects.

Meanwhile, the hooker, Luke Cowan-Dickie, is edging closer to a return to play after a recent evaluation of his neck injury, while Ben Curry has been actively participating in full training sessions this week.

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One of the areas of the most contention throughout the Rugby World Cup, Borthwick's phasing of Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith into fullback has divided opinions amongst England supporters. The dynamic playmaker was a flying addition in the walkover win against Chile, but was left beaten and bruised by the far more physical Fijians.

We expect Borthwick to persevere with his 'Smith-Fullback' project, and slot the ever-reliable Freddie Steward to the right wing, as he did against Argentina in the Third-Place Play-Off. Steward adapted well to his position out wide, where he has previously shone at for Leicester Tigers. As for the left wing, we can see Borthwick calling upon Anthony Watson for a return to England duty, with Jonny May's international career seemingly over.

Watson was initially named in Borthwick's squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, yet pulled out of the entire tournament after sustaining a calf injury during the Summer. May's inclusion came late on, and now with the Gloucester man all but retired internationally, the door is back open for Borthwick's former Leicester man Watson. As exciting as it would be to see Henry Arundell back in the starting side, we expect the Racing 92 man to take a seat on the bench in the early Six Nations matches.

Arundell had an underwhelming end to his Rugby World Cup campaign, as he barely saw the ball in the bronze medal match against Argentina. Arundell may well have to prove himself to Borthwick once again, despite having won the hearts and minds of the Twickenham faithful with exhilarating performances for London Irish. Despite being off to ply his trade in the French Top 14, Arundell remains eligible for the 2024 Six Nations, and should at least make Borthwick's match-day 23.

A relatively new partnership on the international scene, the midfield axis of Manu Tuilagi and Ollie Lawrence looks like Borthwick's best option for the 2024 Six Nations. This comes after Joe Marchant's exit to Stade Francais, in a move that has ended the centre's nine-year run at Harlequins. Marchant was a pivotal player for England during the Rugby World Cup, yet missed the plane home in favour of staying in Paris for the foreseeable future.

Marchant is now ineligible to play for England, yet has been vocal on his ambitions to wear the red rose later down the line. Marchant's circumstances differ to the case of Henry Arundell, as Marchant volentarily moved from Quins to France, whilst Arundell was left unemployed following the financial collapse of London Irish. So, we expect the partnership of Tuilagi and Lawrence to lead the England midfield for the time being. After putting pressure on Tuilangi for his starting spot in the 2023 Six Nations, Lawrence will now likely line-up alongside the Sale Sharks man.

In depth, Borthwick has previously expressed an interest in Northampton's Guy Porter, as the Saints man was included in the wider-training squad for the Rugby World Cup. Exeter Chiefs' Henry Slade could also make a push to return to the England fold, after being cut by Borthwick for the 33-man World Cup squad. Expect plenty of powerful crash ball carries with this midfield duo, that last had a 29 minute run out together in the world cup quarter-final, against Fiji.

The latter stages of the Rugby World Cup campaign presented Borthwick's halfback plans for the foreseeable future. England captain Owen Farrell will likely lead the line at fly-half, with George Ford pushed out to the replacements for the 2024 Six Nations. As mentioned earlier, Marcus Smith could expect to continue to star at fullback, which we believe could open up the door for an 'apprentice' slot, for Northampton Saints' 21-year-old fly-half Fin Smith.

It's unlikely to see Fin Smith get a great deal of game time with Farrell and Ford both in the squad, yet the young Saints man will have invaluable opportunities to learn and improve in the England camp. Farrell is 32, and Ford is 30, it would be a long shot to see both halfbacks at the 2027 Rugby World Cup, so why not start to introduce the next generation as early as possible. A start against Italy could introduce Fin Smith's blockbuster talents to the England audience, and plant the seeds for years to come.

Despite being left out of the initial Rugby World Cup squad, Alex Mitchell made good on his opportunity after being a late addition to the side. Mitchell was flown out to France to re-place Jack van Poortvliet, when the scrum-half suffered a late ankle injury in a Summer warm-up match against Wales. Mitchell progressed to become Borthwick's leading scrum-half at the Rugby World Cup, and could well retain this role for the 2024 Six Nations.

Behind Mitchell would most likely be the returning van Poortvliet, to take the number 21 shirt. The Tigers halfback will want to maximise his minutes, and push the Northampton scrum-half to retain his starting jersey. The confirmed international retirement to Ben Youngs has opened up the door for both van Poortvliet and Mitchell to thrive, yet Danny Care has alluded that he has no immediate plans to hang up his boots for England. The Harlequin is our pick for a third choice scrum-half, to add an experienced voice in the England camp throughout the 2024 Six Nations.

Onto the forwards now, in what is an area of great change for Steve Borthwick's new era. There is increasing expectation that veteran props Joe Marler and Dan Cole will step down from international duty, with our leading loose and tight-head props being Ellis Genge and Will Stuart. Genge took an expected lead role in the number one jersey for the Rugby World Cup, and if Marler steps down, the Baby Rhino will take full charge for the 2024 Six Nations.

The tight-head prop is an area of more intrigue, as despite the questions surrounding his England future, Dan Cole took a leading role for the majority of the Rugby World Cup. The 36-year-old started four of England's matches, including the quarter and semi-final stages. The lifelong Leicester man overtook Kyle Sinckler to the number three jersey, with the Bristol Bears prop not having the impact he would have hoped for in France. If Cole steps away, we can see Will Stuart stepping in on the tight-head, after stringing together a series of impressive performances, and putting Sinckler under pressure in the 2023 Six Nations.

Borthwick could well pull the trigger on Stuart, and send him into the front-line to start in this new-look England side. Between the props, we can still see a spot for Jamie George, with his Saracens understudy Theo Dan, set to bide his time a little longer from the replacements. George is without a doubt England's best option at hooker, and has been since taking the reins from Dylan Hartley as far back as 2017. Dan is in the best possible place to learn and improve from George, who could well be setting up to pass the torch for his club and country teammate, in the run up to the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

The second row pairing of Maro Itoje and Ollie Chessum has steadily become England's most reliable option to pack down the scrum. The duo worked together excellently throughout the Rugby World Cup, and we predict to see the Saracens and Leicester Tigers collaboration back together, for the majority of the Six Nations. However, Chessum's Leicester teammate George Martin certainly put his hand up for selection, and could well be in contention to start in the opening round against Italy.

Martin was selected to start in the semi-final against South Africa, with his powerful tackles utilised from the get-go against the bruising Springboks. This seems to be the area that Martin edges out Chessum, and a big performance against the Azzurri would only boost his claims to take the starting spot from his Welford Road compatriot. After a stunning Rugby World Cup campaign, we can't see Itoje losing his place in Borthwick's second row. The Sarries star was back at his very best in France, and is giving England fans lots to be excited about ahead of the 2024 Six Nations.

Elsewhere in the squad, England will be without David Ribbans for the 2024 Six Nations, as the second row has accepted a move across the channel to Toulon. The former Northampton Saints lock has accepted that he can't make any future appearances for Borthwick's side, which has opened the door to a returning face for England fans. Joe Launchbury signed for Harlequins ahead of the 2023/24 season, after being picked up by Japanese club Toyota Verblitz, following the collapse of Wasps.

At 32-years-old, Launchbury still has gas left in the tank for his first England cap since the 2022 Six Nations. Now that the lock is back in England, Borthwick could well look to utilise Launchbury's international experience, and call-up the newly-minted Quins' man for a sporadic run in the 2024 Six Nations squad. Launchbury could feature in a supportive veterans role, and offer a more than capable run-out should Borthwick call upon the 60-capped England international.

We now wrap up our predictions by placing our best bets on who will be in Borthwick's back-row. There is a changing of the guard on the blindside flank, after Courtney Lawes confirmed his international retirement following the end of the Rugby World Cup. Lawes sat out from England's bronze medal win over Argentina, after being one of Borthwick's top performers at the competition.

With Lawes out of the fold, the door opens for Lewis Ludlam and Sam Underhill to battle for the England number six jersey. Borthwick picked the Bath man to reunite the 'Under-Curry' partnership against Los Pumas, and we predict more of the same for the Six Nations, with Ludlam on the bench. The Northampton Saints man offers a versatile asset across the back-row, and could well run out as a replacement number eight.

Borthwick picked Ludlam to start at number eight in England's Pool D victory over Japan, and the Saints man marked the occasion with a well taken try. After taking a back-seat behind Ben Earl for the majority of the Rugby World Cup, it's now hard to find a space for specialist number eight Billy Vunipola amongst the match-day 23. It would be a bold move to leave Vunipola out of the squad all together, yet we have decided to look to the future and freshen up the wider training group, with Gloucester's overlooked star Zach Mercer and Saracens newcomer Tom Willis.

We predict Borthwick to opt for Curry on the openside flank and Ben Earl at number eight, however the two are also interchangeable, with Curry previously getting Captains reps at the back of the England scrum under Eddie Jones. Also, there will be no place in the squad for Jack Willis, as the back-row signed a contract extension with Toulouse.

This has unfortunately written the former Wasps man out of contention for future England appearances, with his brother Tom amongst our predicted squad following his return to the Premiership from Bordeaux-Begles.