Six Nations: Steve Borthwick excited for England’s Fin, Marcus Smith combo

Feb 6, 2025, 04:23 PM

England coach Steve Borthwick has said he is excited to unleash the Fin Smith, Marcus Smith combination against France at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday.

Northampton’s Fin Smith will start at fly-half, with Marcus Smith, who started at No. 10 against Ireland last week, shifted to fullback.

While the position isn’t new for Marcus Smith, it’s not by his own admission his favoured one.

However, Borthwick is confident the combination will serve them well as they look to bounce back from their opening round defeat in Dublin and get their Championship back on track.

“I think it’s an exciting partnership,” Borthwick said of his pair of Smiths. “We tried it in the second half of the Japan test [in November] and again on Saturday in the second half. We’ve trained that combination together a multiple number of times.

“You’ve got players who both see space, both in the front line and the backfield. If you look at those unstructured situations in the November series and on Saturday, how dangerous Marcus was and is, if you give him time and space he can hurt the opposition.

“Early this season we had Fin at 30 tackles in a game for Northampton, it tells you a lot about the personality,”

“You can talk all about those different skill sets which he certainly has, but he’s also a very tough, brave young man.”

Veteran hooker Jamie George has returned to the side and will start on the bench against France after overcoming a hamstring injury.

Tom Willis will start in the back-row alongside Tom Curry and Ben Earl, with Ben Curry dropping to the bench.

In the backline, Ollie Sleightholme comes in for the injured Cadan Murley on the left wing.

France have made two changes to the side that thrashed Wales last week, with Matthieu Jalibert replacing suspended dly-half Romain Ntamack, while winger Damian Penaud returns from injury to replace Théo Attissogbé.

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.