Wade would be my wild card on the wing

Ben Jaycock speaks to former Wasps, Leicester and England winger Tom Varndell about the state of the game in 7s and 15s

- Ben Jaycock

Ben Jaycock: After another low-key Six Nations, how do you rate England’s chances at the World Cup?

Tom Varndell: England are always going to be one of the teams to beat. I know they haven’t had the best couple of years but the quality is there and everyone’s got to get behind Steve Borthwick. There’s been a lot of unrest in English rugby since Eddie Jones left but England have that quality and you can see from the recent final, the amount of quality that is in the Premiership.

There is some young talent coming through. Not as much as we would like, but there are boys who will come in and do a very good job for England. It’s about pulling the squad together, taking the positives from the last 12 months and getting on the big stage because that’s what matters.

Everything that’s happened before doesn’t really matter. It’s about making sure when we rock up to the World Cup in France that they’ve done all the preparation that’s needed and that they believe in themselves. You saw an England team that in parts didn’t have that self-belief, there was a lot of negativity around them but they’ve got a couple of months before the World Cup kicks off and it’s all to play for.

BJ: Who are your favourites to lift the trophy?