Billy Vunipola appeared to have won an immediate recall to England's starting XV after a picture emerged from training that hinted at the lineup for Saturday's Calcutta Cup showdown with Scotland.
Two whiteboards positioned at the side of the pitch at the Six Nations champions' Surrey training base on Tuesday displayed the formations for the session, indicating that Vunipola is pencilled in at number eight in place of Nathan Hughes.
The bulldozing back row made his comeback after three months out with a knee injury in Saracens' victory over Newcastle on Sunday and England have already stated he will feature in the 23 against Scotland.
Eddie Jones names his team for the Triple Crown decider on Thursday morning, offering plenty of time to finalise his plans, but training lineups appeared to show three more changes in the pipeline.
Jack Nowell looked set to displace Jonny May from the right wing as reward for his two-try salvo as a second-half replacement in the 36-15 victory over Italy, with Elliot Daly retained on the opposite wing.
Jonathan Joseph seemed to have been recalled at outside centre, forcing Ben Te'o back on to the bench, and Ben Youngs was shaping up to be restored at scrum-half after Danny Care started against the Azzurri.
While the team will not be announced until Thursday, the outlined changes represented England's strongest available starting XV.
Jones has proved to be conservative in selection so far during the flawless run of 16 Test victories that constitute his reign as head coach, and it will be no surprise if he avoids any risks against a resurgent Scotland.
However, forwards coach Steve Borthwick claimed there was nothing significant about the information.
"In training we go through all different kinds of permutations, different combinations of players," he said.
"As coaches, we like to watch players together, to see what works well.
"Billy looks in very good shape and has worked tremendously hard. In him and Nathan we have two fantastically powerful number eights who give us options in the position."
Scotland have not prevailed at Twickenham since 1983, but wins against Ireland and Wales have raised expectations that a dismal 34 years of failure could finally draw to a close when the rivals collide on Saturday.
England could seal the title if they dispatch Vern Cotter's men and Wales beat Ireland on Friday evening, with victory also equalling New Zealand's record of 18 successive Test wins.
Vunipola was included among the 24 players retained by Jones on Tuesday night for the final stage of preparations for the clash with Scotland.
Back row Jack Clifford was dropped, but there was a return for wing Anthony Watson who has completed his comeback from a hamstring injury and is likely to be named on the bench, with May the favourite to act as 24th man.
England squad:
Forwards (13): D Cole (Leicester Tigers), J George (Saracens), D Hartley (Northampton Saints), J Haskell (Wasps), N Hughes (Wasps), M Itoje (Saracens), J Launchbury (Wasps), C Lawes (Northampton Saints), J Marler (Harlequins), K Sinckler (Harlequins), B Vunipola (Saracens), M Vunipola (Saracens), T Wood (Northampton Saints).
Backs (11): M Brown (Harlequins), D Care (Harlequins), E Daly (Wasps), O Farrell (Saracens), G Ford (Bath Rugby), J Joseph (Bath Rugby), J May (Gloucester Rugby), J Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), B Te'o (Worcester Warriors), A Watson (Bath Rugby), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers).