England have been without a leader since Lewis Moody’s retirement and it is unclear if fellow senior figures like Nick Easter and Mike Tindall will make the elite player squad when it is announced on Wednesday.

There’s strong speculation that either Northampton’s Tom Wood or Harlequins’ Chris Robshaw are being considered to fill Moody’s shoes by the interim head coach.

But Lancaster made it clear he has a completely open mind over the issue and says there’s no reason why he won’t be casting his net farther wide to include the likes of 22-year-old Ben Youngs as a candidate.

He said: “There are some exciting young players ­captaining Premiership teams who have the potential to ­captain England.

“The likes of Northampton’s Dylan Hartley or Chris ­Robshaw at Harlequins.

“There are others who ­potentially have leadership in them. Ben Youngs, Toby Flood, Ben Foden, lads who have yet to captain a side. I haven’t decided on the captain yet. I’ll name the Six Nations squad on Wednesday, we’ll mature as a group, and that leadership group within the squad will mature. That’s happened with England cricket.

“Andrew Strauss didn’t step in and became an iconic ­leader overnight. He came after Kevin ­Pietersen, and he stepped into that role, grew into it.

“We will be young and new and we will develop through the Six Nations.”