Nik Simon

For Steve Borthwick and his England side, the next five weeks represent a chance to make history by completing the Six Nations Grand Slam for only the third time in their history.

NIK SIMON: On Friday evening, England's players hopped on board a coach to Barcelona for dinner at a popular steak restaurant.

Ben Earl is discussing his cheat meal. He is a slave to routine but the flatbreads at his favourite restaurant, 600 miles from England's team hotel in Girona, are one thing that may prove hard to resist.

As England prepare for the Six Nations in their Spanish training base, performance director Phil Morrow delivered a clean fitness report. Props aside, their medical list is less concerning than ever.

On Sunday outside Ashton Gate, Bordeaux coach Noel McNamara stopped to field a few questions about the Six Nations. An Irishman living in France, he tipped England as the team to watch.

On the 9.34 train from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads, a group of moustachioed Frenchmen sat around a table discussing the Six Nations.

Belleau has spent his morning at the dentist. He suffered one of the most gruesome injuries of the season two weeks ago whilst attempting to tackle Harlequins full-back Nick David.

The news of Scott Robertson's sacking by the All Blacks could not have come at a better time for Harlequins.

With Newcastle writing cheques from the Red Bull bank accounts, the English transfer market is as buoyant as it has been since before the Covid lockdown.

Wigglesworth leads us up the stairway to our seats where we bump into his old team-mate, Mark Cueto. 'Do you want a beer?' asks Cueto, but Wigglesworth is here for work not pleasure.

NIK SIMON AT THE STONEX STADIUM: With 10 minutes on the clock, Tom Willis carried the ball off the back of a Saracens scrum and ran straight into his older brother.

'People at the club have been hiding behind the Quins Way. But the Quins Way isn't just about being show ponies. Sometimes it seems like Marcus Smith is the only one who shows any passion.'

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY NIK SIMON: Win or lose, Northampton's players will be roaming the cobbled streets of Bordeaux on Sunday night, expanding their wine palates.

BY NIK SIMON AT WELFORD ROAD: When Billy Searle arrived from the French second division in the summer, few expected him to become one of the signings of the season.

NIK SIMON: Step into most professional rugby dressing rooms and there will be a table that looks like a pick-and-mix for grown-ups. Smelling salts, caffeine gels, processed sugars.

There are two things that are guaranteed to get Thomas du Toit's attention: scrums and meat.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Joe Marler is digging out the Santa suit in his study. 'It's movie quality, you know,' he says, pulling on a giant red coat. His wife, Daisy, rolls her eyes.

NIK SIMON: Back in August, Tony Rowe sat in one of the meeting rooms at Sandy Park and banged his fists on the table. 'We're back,' barked the Exeter Chiefs owner. 'Watch out.'

Henry Pollock struts into one of the corporate boxes at Franklin's Gardens and flings his cap on to the floor. 'Hey, bro, how you getting on?' he asks. Cool as you like.

After R360 pushed back its start date to 2028, hundreds of players around the world who had planned on joining the new competition next season are now on the lookout for a contract for 2026-27.

The credibility of the Champions Cup took another hit with the latest round of blowouts. Out of 12 fixtures last weekend, only a couple carried the true weight of Europe's premier club competition.

NIK SIMON: With five minutes left on the clock, the Bayonne supporters left their seats and set off on a giant conga around the pitch where their team had suffered a rugby massacre.

Back in 2021, Max Ojomoh was taught a valuable lesson. He missed an email from an unfamiliar account at the RFU which turned out to be an invitation to join up with the England squad.

Marcus Smith is catching his breath between sprints. Daley Thompson tells him to keep his shoulders down when fatigue kicks in.

NIK SIMON: The news of George Martin's departure to Saracens will bring mixed emotions at Leicester. Many at Welford Road thought he could become the club's modern Martin Johnson.

Depth is building nicely in England's prop stocks but the news that Will Stuart will miss the remainder of the season left me with one question.

Standing on the sideline in his big winter coat, the sight of the great Aurelien Rougerie offered a reminder of what this competition used to be.

NIK SIMON: Only the ticket holders who were sat beside the tunnel at Twickenham will ever see what really happened between Tom Curry and Felipe Contepomi.

Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth has been banned for 12 weeks for gouging the eye of Wales flanker Alex Mann.

NIK SIMON: England have been drawn in the same pool as Wales for the 2027 World Cup and have a potentially dream route to the final. 

NIK SIMON: ITV are on the brink of signing a £90million deal to broadcast every England rugby Test until 2029.

Back in October, when Pennyhill Park was still decked out with pumpkins, Steve Borthwick had one key line of messaging for his players.

ALEX BYWATER AND NIK SIMON AT TWICKENHAM: Steve Borthwick's side beat the Pumas 27-23 to extend their winning run to 11 matches and seal their first November clean sweep since 2017.

NIK SIMON AT TWICKENHAM: As far as autumn statements go, Rachel Reeves could learn some lessons from Steve Borthwick 's rugby team.

When England's players celebrated at a nightclub last Saturday, Elliot Daly was at the heart of the action. He didn't play against the All Blacks but he is never far from Steve Borthwick's plans.

The South Africans treat the scrum like a marathon, not a sprint. Their locks engage on two knees before injecting a slow poison into opponents. England have adopted a different a stance.

NIK SIMON: The trio have pulled out of this week's training squad after suffering injuries during Saturday's victory over the All Blacks.

The wind is in English sails after a famous victory over the All Blacks last weekend made it 10 Test wins in a row. But revenge is on the cards when Argentina come to Twickenham on Sunday.

England are sweating over the fitness of Ollie Lawrence for their final autumn Test against Argentina.

NIK SIMON AT TWICKENHAM: The victory was Steve Borthwick 's biggest scalp as England head coach, who claimed his players were inspired by Itoje's rallying team-talk.

NIK SIMON: Thirteen years of heartbreak later, it was England's evergreen No 10 who delivered a masterclass to earn England another famous victory over the mighty All Blacks.

NIK SIMON: Unlike his predecessors, Jordan would not look out of place with the young men heading home from Canary Wharf in their city boy suits.

In 2005 the 'Bomb Squad' had a very different name when Rassie Erasmus selected his Cheetahs team for the Currie Cup final and made a surprising decision...

The tennis star shared her Grand Slam experiences as she joined up with Steve Borthwick's squad who are attempting to land their first victory over New Zealand since 2019.

BY NIK SIMON AT TWICKENHAM: From the moment the trumpeter's microphone failed during the Last Post, this always had the feel of a chaotic night at Twickenham.

It was not long after the team's Sunday roast when Steve Borthwick called Genge in for a meeting about the England captaincy. 'I was a bit taken aback by it,' revealed the prop.

On Tuesday night, Marcus Smith put on his compression trousers and settled in to watch Liverpool take on Real Madrid.

Joe Marler's eyes have always twinkled in front of the camera. A man full of mischief, it was little surprise to see him holding his own alongside the likes of Stephen Fry and Alan Carr on Celebrity Traitors.

England's A team prepares players for Test rugby - we were granted access all areas ahead of their game with a New Zealand XV on Saturday, and this is what we found.

NIK SIMON AT TWICKENHAM: In the aftermath of England's win over Australia, Henry Pollock sat patiently in the Twickenham concourse waiting for George Ford to finish speaking to media.

NIK SIMON AT TWICKENHAM: Ask any of Henry Pollock's team-mates about his new peroxide hairstyle and they will tell you he dyed it because he was not getting enough attention.

Jones is back in familiar surroundings. A hotel bar on the outskirts of St Albans, where the pristinely dressed waiters are wheeling out afternoon tea. Quintessentially English.

Australia promised not to get dragged into 'whingeing' after England accused them of cheating at the breakdown.

Joe Marler's eyes have always twinkled in front of the camera. A man full of mischief, it was little surprise to see him holding his own alongside Stephen Fry and Alan Carr on The Celebrity Traitors.

The man who is central to England's aerial protection is Freddie Steward. He is England's steady hand at the back, coordinating backfield coverage and marshalling a rising tide of contestable kicks.

George is used to celebrating milestones with his England team-mates. He has been part of the set-up for more than a decade but he's still holding out for his biggest birthday wish.

Growing up just south of Newcastle, there was barely a weekend in the calendar when Guy Pepper was not standing beside a rugby pitch.

He is one of the greatest rugby players in the world, but Nathan Cleary has been able to walk through his Kensington hotel unnoticed this week. The place has been taken over by sumo wrestlers.

At the beginning of the season, every Leicester player queued up to have their arms measured. Emeka Ilione, the 23-year-old forward now called up to the England squad, was at the top of the charts.

NIK SIMON AT WELFORD ROAD: There were 17,000 supporters who choked up with Moody as he addressed the crowd at half-time.

A new chapter beckons for England as they welcome back their Lions stars and begin to nail down a team that can bring home the 2027 World Cup.

England have been dealt a blow for the autumn internationals after a key figure was ruled out of the series.

On a warm summer's evening in Quinta do Lago, a couple of stools were set up in the team room at Sale's training camp for An Audience with George Ford.

Over the course of his summer holidays, Marcus Smith ventured into London to spend a morning with David Beckham. One cultured right boot meets another.

Many of Cowan-Dickie's memories of the 2025 Lions tour arise from the golf course not the rugby pitch as he was concussed during the last warm-up game. But he still loved the experience.

NIK SIMON: England fly-half George Ford is the latest player to ignore the lure of R360. Ford was the man in possession of England's No 10 jersey in Argentina.

Next week, Steve Borthwick and his England players will gather at Pennyhill Park for a short training camp and there may be one or two new faces in the squad for the autumn internationals.

The rugby world has rallied around Moody, 48, with a fundraising page that was set up on Monday already raising over £118,000.

NIK SIMON: New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, England, Scotland, France and Italy have all joined a collective move against the competition ahead of its proposed launch.

BY NIK SIMON AT SIXWAYS: The traffic down Warriors Way has never felt so welcome. Fans jumped out of their cars stuck in the jams and stomped along the soggy verges in time for kick-off.

Meet Noah Caluori, half-Swiss and half-Nigerian, who you will see galloping down the wing for Saracens this season.

Northampton and Scotland have agreed a deal for Saints defence coach Lee Radford to join Gregor Townsend's set-up for this season's Test windows.

Suddenly, this summer, the clock was no longer ticking on a tranche of club legends in their 30s. It was time for the next generation to pull together as a squad overhaul was forced upon them.

Mike Tindall has told players that three years' worth of funding has been secured in order to kick-off rugby's R360 rebel league in 2026.

NIK SIMON AT TWICKENHAM: Outside Twickenham train station, a giant image of Ellie Kildunne welcomed fans off the trains from Reading and Waterloo.

It was Nathan Jibulu whose highlights were playing in the closing credits of this rare edition of Thursday Night Lights.

There is a more relaxed mood around Farrell these days, as he prepares to make his second debut for the club at Newcastle Red Bulls on Friday night. More of a smile on his face.

Danny Wilson, the former coach, was nose-to-nose with one of the locks. Results were disappointing and there was a lack of harmony around the club's direction of travel.

Here are the players worth getting excited about, according to the men trying to stop them.