Launchbury, along with a fit again Courtney Lawes, looks set make the battle for the England lock positions very interesting alongside the RBS 6 Nations pairing of Tom Palmer and Mouritz Botha.

The Wasps forward followed up two impressive performances off the bench against Fiji and Australia, where he caught five line outs in 27 minutes, before putting in two fine performances against South Africa and New Zealand.

Launchbury had a fine game against the Springboks where he hit 33 rucks, caused two turnovers, made ten carries and 11 tackles while he played a central role in the historic 38-21 win over the All Blacks.

And the former Under 20 international, who was named man of the series for England’s autumn internationals, was still left on cloud nine after the dream start – but paid tribute to his teammates.

“It’s been an amazing month for me, to make my debut against Fiji was a massive honour – and at the time the biggest achievement of my career,” he said.

“But as the weeks went by I felt like I grew in confidence and for it all to culminate in that amazing win against New Zealand topped it all off.

“But you’re only as good as the 14 players around you and even when our backs were against the wall we stuck together.”