Marcus Smith faces an uphill battle to regain his England place after Steve Borthwick sought to kickstart his side’s spluttering attack by axing the Harlequins playmaker, dealing a major blow to his British & Irish Lions hopes.
Borthwick dropped Smith for Sunday’s Six Nations fixture with Italy in a one-on-one meeting in England’s hotel bar and has offered him no assurances over his future place in the starting XV with Elliot Daly coming in at full-back. In his favoured position of fly-half, Fin Smith continues and with Fraser Dingwall replacing Henry Slade at inside-centre, Borthwick has picked five Northampton backs and highlighted the cohesion that brings.
Borthwick has challenged Smith to be “a gamechanger” when he comes off the bench, urging him to take advantage of tired bodies with England potentially looking to boost their points difference in an effort to keep their hopes of winning the Six Nations title alive. He has delivered mixed performances in his last two outings at full-back, however, and, along with Slade, has paid the price.
Asked if the Northampton influence – which will be further boosted when George Furbank is fit – makes Smith’s route back into the side more difficult, Borthwick said: “It’s one of the factors. In selection I’m weighing up a number of factors and it’s one of them. I talk to each and every player in the squad, what we are asking them to develop in their game, what the next thing to add and build is to get to their maximum. And that’s every player.”
It is quite the fall from grace for Smith, who started eight Tests in a row at fly-half and provided England’s brightest attacking spark. In that eight-game run, however, England’s only victories came against Japan and after Smith started the Six Nations defeat by Ireland in Dublin, he was moved to full-back with namesake Fin coming in at fly-half for the narrow victories against France and Scotland. In both matches, England have failed to fully click in attack but Borthwick has promised significant improvements against Italy despite axing Smith for Sunday’s clash.
“I’ve been really clear and open with the players throughout,” added Borthwick. “I understand that every player wants to start – it’s been the same for every England player in every generation. But I’ll stress again; I think we have a lot of talented players. I told Marcus about selection and he went out and trained brilliantly. Which is immense credit to him as a person.
“Marcus has done so many things very well and when I talked to him I said that he’s a game-changer – that’s the best way I can describe it. The exciting thing I’m looking forward to this weekend is unleashing him when there is a bit of fatigue on the pitch, a bit of space on the pitch.”
Marcus Smith was a late call-up to the 2021 Lions tour of South Africa and will have high hopes of making this summer’s squad to take on Australia. That he now finds himself relegated to the bench is likely to count against him when Andy Farrell selects his squad in the coming weeks, however.
Daly was a prominent figure on the wing during England’s 2023 World Cup campaign but Sunday marks his first Test start at full-back – where he was most often deployed by Eddie Jones – in four years. Without Smith’s stardust, Borthwick is backing his side to find their attacking stride against Italy, vowing to supporters his side are seeking significant improvements on their previous showing against Scotland.
“Elliot Daly is a really good attacking strong player,” said Borthwick. “It’s never just about one player, it’s about the team, it’s about what we’re trying to put on the grass there. I’m seeing a team who want to attack and want to move the ball and there were times two weeks ago we didn’t. There were opportunities that we didn’t take and we want to make sure we take them this weekend.”
In the other change made by Borthwick, Jamie George comes in at hooker for his first start since losing the captaincy on what will be his 100th England appearance. “Jamie continues to be a phenomenal player for English rugby,” said Borthwick.
