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Steve Borthwick has insisted that it is a positive that his England squad has played more Premiership and European games than any other Six Nations team.

Fatigue may be a worry, but Borthwick’s “match-hardened” stars are full of momentum going into the tournament.

“The players are match-hardened, so that’s a great benefit,” Borthwick said. “Generally I will try to look at the positive side and I have a group of players that are match-hardened. They are ready to go.

“The other thing is the nature of the Premiership. All of the games are counting so the leverage of all these games is huge.

“And there have been teams fighting in Europe to get qualification, fighting to find a way to win which, again, is a real positive.

“Everything we’re getting is saying all the clubs are running more than they were 12 months ago, so that’s a real positive.”