Kevin Sinfield has revealed Marcus Smith is still an option at full-back as England look to ignite their attack.
Harlequins fly-half Smith injected energy and creativity into England’s game when appearing as a second-half replacement in the World Cup warm-up fixtures against Ireland and Fiji.
Head coach Steve Borthwick on Thursday names his team to face Argentina in their crucial Pool D opener, with Smith under consideration as support for starting 15 Freddie Steward.
“Marcus is a magician with the ball – step off both feet, quick, can beat the opposition for fun,” defence coach Sinfield said.
“So why not try to give him a bit more time and space than he would typically get at 10, try to get him a little bit wider?
“We have been working on it for some weeks now with him in training. He’s been incredible at the back.
“He embraced it straight away. It was a question that was posed to him. Have you ever played 15? His first answer was ‘No, but I would love to’.
“It would be crazy of us to put Marcus in the team and not try to put the ball in his hands, and give him space to attack. He’s a different attacking threat to Fred.
“Fred is 6ft 4in and 105kg, so he brings a different threat to Marcus when he carries the ball.”
