Marcus Smith has been recalled to the England squad getting ready to stand France this weekend after his dazzling show in Harlequins’ win towards Exeter. He used to be dropped for England’s fallow-week coaching camp in Brighton ultimate week however has returned to the squad for the Six Nations fixture towards Les Bleus on saturday.
Smith is incorporated in conjunction with the England captain, Owen Farrell, in addition to George Ford with Steve Borthwick settling on all 3 of his fly-half contenders in a 36-man squad. Farrell and Ford had been a part of the Brighton camp ultimate week while Smith used to be launched to Harlequins for sport time, having come off the bench in England’s previous two Six Nations suits towards Italy and Wales.
He despatched the clearest conceivable reminder of his skills, incomes the award for guy of the fit in Quins’ 40–5 win towards Exeter at Twickenham in entrance of the England head trainer. He additionally used to be given a ringing endorsement to go back to Twickenham on Saturday and convey a equivalent efficiency by way of the Harlequins trainer, Tabai Matson, who insisted Smith had finished “exactly what Steve [Borthwick] Wanted”.
After both scoring tries against Exeter, Cadan Murley and Joe Marchant have also been included but Ollie Hassell-Collins, who crossed the whitewash in London Irish’s win against Newcastle on Sunday after returning from a knee injury, has not been. Manu Tuilagi has been included but is still suspended and cannot appear against France while Jack Willis, who was due to be in action for Toulouse on Sunday night, has also been selected and is expected to join up with the squad on Monday.
Borthwick has a number of playmaking options as England seek to keep their 18-year unbeaten home record against France in the Six Nations intact. Dropping Farrell from the starting XV seems inconceivable so either his captain remains at fly-half with either Smith or Ford on the bench, or shifts back to inside centre, allowing one of the two out-and-out No 10s to start. Ford has had limited game time for Sale Sharks since returning from a long-term achilles injury but is well known to Borthwick from their time together at Leicester.
How Borthwick progresses in the coming days will be instructive because it is hard to argue the case for three fly-halves in the trimmed-down squad he will name on Tuesday. Having decided to drop Smith last week he called a press conference to explain the move but he shrewd enough to know there was a sense of inevitability to the performance Smith produced against Exeter.
It makes it more difficult for Borthwick to go away Smith out of the 23 towards France, whether or not from the off or as an alternative. There is a nagging suspicion, although, that Ford is a greater have compatibility for the framework Borthwick is making an attempt to put in as a part of his England rebuild.