Thursday 25 January 2018 06:10, UK
Will Greenwood says England's Six Nations rivals will be sniffing blood because of the defending champions' lengthy injury list.
England could be without 16 players for their opening game against Italy in Rome on February 4, with Harlequins duo Mike Brown and Chris Robshaw the latest injury concerns.
Greenwood expects players such as "pocket rocket" Sam Simmonds, Sam Underhill, Zach Mercer and Denny Solomona will feature against Italy but says their inexperience at international level is a concern.
The World Cup winner told Sky Sports News: "Most of those names will be in the 23, and a lot of them have single-digit caps.
It seems as though all roads point to a shootout on St Patrick's Day - England v Ireland, potentially for the title.
"That means even Italy, having gone so close at Twickenham last year, will sense vulnerability within this England camp. They will be disregarding second in the world, 22 wins from 23 games and two consecutive Six Nations.
"The other five countries will sniff a little bit of English blood and it will need Eddie Jones' Zen mind games to come together and pull off a Grand Slam this time."
England are attempting to win a third successive Six Nations title but Greenwood believes Ireland could end their reign.
Joe Schmidt's men are ranked just below England at No 3 in the world rankings and also enjoyed an unbeaten autumn where they thumped South Africa by a record 35 points.
Greenwood believes this year's Six Nations could come down to the final day when Ireland travel to Twickenham.
He said: "Will England come last? No. Are they rock-solid favourites to win it three times on the trot? No.
"I have a small wager on Ireland. In their first game they are away to France, who have brought in a multitude of coaches. No one really knows each other or the setup under Jacques Brunel, who hasn't a glorious international coaching record.
"They've a new squad again, more change within the French camp, so it's very difficult for them to find consistency early.
"Ireland will go into that game with the core of players coming from Leinster and Munster, who are the No 1 and No 3 seeds in the Champions Cup quarter-finals, as well as additional quality players.
"They'll expect to go and win in Paris and then they play three home games against Italy, Wales and Scotland. You'd be a brave man to back any of those sides to go and win in Ireland. Then on St Patrick's Day they travel to Twickenham.
"How does it look like panning out? Scotland have a half-decent chance - they'll fancy beating England on February 24.
"Wales are expanding their game and will look to continue that but may struggle to be that good over five games.
"You're never quite sure what Italy or France will do but they will end up at the bottom end of the table.
"It seems as though all roads point to a shootout on St Patrick's Day - England v Ireland, potentially for the title."
