Marcus Smith is set for a positional change when England host France (Image: Getty)
is planning to take the attack to the French on Saturday – with leading from the back.
Smith’s potential shift to full-back is designed to counteract the long kicking game of Antoine Dupont, Thomas Ramos and co and put the French in reverse gear running the ball back at them.
The 25-year-old Harlequin was first encouraged to play 15 by assistant coach at France 2023 and, with George Furbank, a similar attacker, injured, is being handed the job again.
Smith has been shifted there since, but at the end of games England are chasing like Saturday’s 27-22 defeat to Ireland in Dublin.
With Fin Smith, 22, pencilled in to start at 10, ahead of 98-capper George Ford, England will have three out-and-out creative ball players on the pitch with another Henry Slade, brought up as a fly-half in the centre.
And Marcus Smith has been tasked with using the wide-open spaces of Twickenham to hurt the French.
Senior assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth, who runs the attack, said: “He’s obviously another set of eyes that are very opportunistic. ‘Where’s the space? Who can I beat?’ Whether it is with George Ford or with Fin, that’s what it would bring.
Steve Borthwick is set to make an attacking change to his England team (Image: Getty)
“We are blessed with three 10s that can all play international rugby to a high level. Fin has had fewer chances than the rest at the moment, but he is really clear with his game, he is confident without being arrogant and wants to get better.
“He has all the things that you associate with top 10s. He is really clear with what he wants and how to best position the team. I’ve been super impressed with him, as I have with Marcus and Fordy. Fordy, I can’t speak highly enough of what he’s done behind the scenes, how he is training, how he is helping all those guys around him. I feel very fortunate to work with all three of them.”
Exeter’s Slade who is poised to retain his spot in the midfield has played with both Smiths at Test level and against them in the Premiership.
He said: “Fin sees space really well. There’s always going to be space on the field somewhere; you can’t defend everything. I feel like he sees it really well.
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“Obviously, he’s a slightly different 10 to Marcus. Marcus has got that X factor in terms of beating a man one-on-one but Fin is very measured.
“He speaks very well and finds space. That’s a big part of a no 10’s role…moving the team around to where they need to be on the pitch. He feels really confident. I think we’re very lucky we’ve got three 10s who are brilliant communicators and very confident what they’re trying to do for the team.
“And it does give you an extra ball player. When you talk about moving the ball to space, it’s always better to have three people trying to do that than two.”
Fin Smith is no slouch in defence either and recently added to his showreel with a massive hit on Bath back rower Miles Reid in the Premiership recently and Marcus Smith punches above his weight in the tackle.
Slade added: “When people run at them they’re still decent defenders. I’ve seen a few highlights clips of Fin hitting some big lads so hopefully he can do that at the weekend if he’s involved.”