The message coming loud and clear from Steve Borthwick's first England squad selection is that he and his coaching crew believe they can teach Eddie Jones' old dogs new tricks.
The most obvious example is defence coach Kevin Sinfield's conviction that he can get Owen Farrell to tackle lower. However, a handful of newcomers and the return of Dan Cole at tight-head is not much of an overhaul of the Jones squad, particularly with Farrell retained as captain despite England's rudderless Autumn campaign.
Asking old king Cole to shore-up the Red Rose scrum at 35 is a big call. The front row decisions to continue with Kyle Sinckler and Joe Heyes at tight-head shows how England's tight-head stocks have shrivelled. Sinckler, 29, was overwhelmed by South Africa's Ox Nche and New Zealand's Ethan de Groot two months ago and neither he nor Leicester's Heyes have looked close to Test class this season.
The same applies to Mako Vunipola and Bevan Rodd being chosen at loose-head over Val Rapava-Ruskin and Joe Marler. Ellis Genge might deserve to be marginally ahead of Vunipola and Rodd in the pecking order, but he is not as effective at the scrum as either Rapava-Ruskin or Marler.
Rapava-Ruskin's contribution at the scrum, and in the loose, for Gloucester over two seasons means that not only has Borthwick left out the best prop in England, but also that he and his new scrum coach, Richard Cockerill, are convinced they can make the England scrum greater than the sum of its creaking parts.
Cockerill knows about collective will-power and cohesion as the linchpin in Leicester's old ‘ABC' club, who often had to scrap their way out of tight corners. England's Six Nations fortunes rest on his ability to transplant that mentality.
