Speculation growing about big England selection calls versus Fiji

Speculation is growing that Steve Borthwick is set to transform the England backline by naming Marcus Smith to start at full-back in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final, with skipper Owen Farrell also set to displace George Ford as the starting out-half.

Bar the expected 71-0 rout of Chile, the English attack has been otherwise blunt during its four-game Pool D campaign at France 2023. Borthwick’s side was kept tryless in their Marseille opener versus Argentina, but the third-minute sending-off of Tom Curry kept a lid on criticism about their bluntness in that fixture.

However, they needed a fluke headed assist from Joe Marler in the 56th minute in Nice to break Japanese resistance after English supporters had been loudly booing the team just minutes earlier, while they required a 73rd-minute converted Danny Care try and a last-gasp tackle from the same player 75 seconds from time to secure the fortunate 18-17 win over Samoa last Saturday in Lille.

The kicking game, an approach that England have built so much of their attack on, failed to fire against the Samoans after Borthwick picked Ford to partner Farrell in a starting 10/12 combination for the first time since March 2021.

The inclusion of Manu Tuilagi at No13 also meant that Borthwick was reprising the 10/12/13 Ford/Farrell/Tuilagi gambit last seen in March 2020 four months after it was outmanoeuvred by the Springboks in the 2019 World Cup final.

Ford was hooked on 51 minutes last weekend in Lille and the arrival of Smith to play at full-back resulted in Farrell switching to No10, Freddie Steward moving to the wing, and Joe Marchant into centre where he was soon partnered by Ollie Lawrence, a 58th-minute replacement for Tuilagi.

Smith has started just once before as the England No15, producing a player of the match performance in the September 23 hammering of Chile, but he has impressed off the bench on a number of occasions in that position, most notably when England had to chase down Fiji seven weeks ago at Twickenham.

England’s comeback was unsuccessful as they ultimately lost that Summer Nations Series game 22-30, but Smith scored one try and was pivotal in the creation of another finished in the corner by Marchant.

Naming Smith ahead of Steward would be a big call for Borthwick but so too would be naming Farrell at No10 and benching Ford, the player of the match in the opening wins over Argentina and Japan.

Last weekend’s performance ignited calls for Farrell not to be selected again at inside centre but rather than getting dropped, he is expected to move inside one channel with Ford the player who misses out.

England, who have based themselves for quarter-final week in Aix-en-Provence, will officially confirm their team to face Fiji at 1pm local time on Friday (12noon UK), with Borthwick set to discuss his selection at a media briefing starting an hour later.