Why Danny Care has no doubt which 10 will take England to 'next level'

George Ford's return to the England squad this week has muddied the fly-half selection picture somewhat for Steve Borthwick.

On one hand, England have gained the services of a player four caps shy of a century. On the other hand, Borthwick was put in the invidious position of choosing who should start in the No 10 shirt against the All Blacks on Saturday at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium, and will be throughout the autumn.

In the first match since the Guinness Six Nations where all options are available to Borthwick, the head coach has opted to start Marcus Smith, with Ford returning from a quad injury to take his place on the bench for the third instalment of the year against Scott Robertson's side.

The Sale Sharks No 10 was given the reins in the Six Nations and spearheaded the birth of this new England, ably supported by Marcus Smith from the bench against Ireland. But an Achilles issue to Ford meant the Harlequin steered the ship against the All Blacks in July, backed up by his namesake Fin.

With Ford initially an injury doubt for the start of the Autumn Nations Series with a quad issue, the fly-half picture looked simple- Marcus Smith would start and Fin Smith would start on the bench. Now Borthwick will be in a quandary for the rest of November.

But for former England scrum-half Danny Care there is no such dilemma. Regardless of Ford's fitness, Marcus Smith has to start if England want to break into the top four of the world rankings.

Currently in fifth place in the rankings, joining the top table amongst Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand and France, or actually usurping one of them, will be England's target over the coming months, and Care feels his Harlequins team-mate is the best choice to help achieve that feat.

Though now looking on at England as an observer, it was not long ago that the 101-cap international was on the other side of the fence - just over six months in fact - so he will have first-hand experience of what Borthwick wants out of his team and how he wants to play. With plenty of knowledge of how both Marcus Smith and Ford operate, he is well equipped to offer his two penn'orth on the fly-half debate.

"Whatever happens, Marcus Smith would be my fly-half," TNT Sports pundit Care recently said to RugbyPass. "I think the way England have developed their game and this sort of attack-minded nature that we've got now, with the players that we've got around them, with the speed that they can play at, for me, for England to get into that top four, he's the fly-half."

Care nevertheless still feels that Ford has an important role to play in the England camp, even if he does not feature in the matchday squad.

"That being said, George is still going to play a massively important part in that squad whether he's playing or not," the 37-year-old added. "It's almost like another coach out there for the boys, he sees the game so well. Whether he's on the bench or he's starting, or he's the third fly-half, he'll be helping England to beat New Zealand. So he's still got plenty of miles in the tank."

What is different about the England set-up since Care retired from international rugby in March is Borthwick's coaching staff, with Felix Jones now working remotely and Joe El-Abd taking over as defence coach.

Though this could scupper Borthwick's plans and unsettle a side that were on an upwards trajectory, Care feels it will only be a disruption if England choose to make it one.

"Felix is a world-class coach, I loved working with him, the boys did," the scrum-half added. "But If he wants to be somewhere else and wants to go and do something else then you want people in the room that want to be there.

"So it's one of those, you thank him for his time. He did some brilliant stuff for England, following on for some great work that Kevin Sinfield had done, and now it's Joe El-Abd's turn to put his stamp on some already really good work and hopefully try taking them to the next level. So it can be a disruption if you want to make it one. I think England are really enjoying working with Joe and I don't think it will have too much of a distraction."

Care is echoing his former boss Borthwick when he mentions the 'next level' that England must ascend to, and believes they can achieve that over November with visits from the All Blacks, Australia, the world champions South Africa and Japan. But there are non-negotiables if they are to reach that upper echelon.

Care said: "I think for England, the next level that Steve's always talked about is breaking into that top four in the world. Beating one of the top four teams. We beat Ireland obviously in the Six Nations, but I think England need to beat New Zealand or South Africa.

"I'm not saying they need to go and beat both of them, but I think to take that next level, it's about picking off these world-class teams and there's no better opportunity to go for New Zealand that first game.

"I thought they should have beaten them twice in the summer, which gave me great optimism that when New Zealand came over here, England would learn from that and have enough to beat them at home and I truly think they will this weekend."

Every match of 2024 Autumn Nations Series is exclusively live on TNT Sports and discovery+ Watch The Autumn Nations Rugby Show, free-to-air on Quest every Thursday at 10pm from Oct 31