England head coach Steve Borthwick has named his team to play France, in the second round of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations. There are plenty of talking points, with the inclusion of Fin Smith to start at fly half being an immediate stand-out decision for Saturday’s match at the Allianz Stadium.
Steve Borthwick spoke to the media this afternoon after naming his side, and discussed how he is excited to see Fin Smith lead the line against Les Bleus. Borthwick talked about the incoming first Test start for the Northampton Saints man, and also the decision to move Marcus Smith to fullback, with no space in the squad this time around for Freddie Steward.
Here are the five biggest talking points, from Steve Borthwick’s England squad announcement.
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1. Fin and Marcus Smith set to start together for England for the first time in their careers
Borthwick has unleashed both Smiths on the starting XV, with Fin leading the back-line at fly half and his namesake Marcus holding down the back-field at fullback. It is certainly an exciting selection for England fans to sink their teeth into, with Borthwick outlining what he saw in their albeit brief on-field partnership at the tail end of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series.
STEVE BORTHWICK: It’s an exciting partnership. We trialled it at the end of the second-half of the Japan Test in the Autumn Nations Series. We saw it again on Saturday in the second half and we trained that combination together a multiple number of times previously.
You’ve got two ball players there, you’ve got players who both see space, both in the front line and the backfield. I’m excited to see how they go together.
2. Focus upon Marcus Smith at fullback: Borthwick excited to see ‘dangerous’ Harlequin unleashed
Borthwick narrowed his scope upon both of his selected Smiths, with his attention first turned to Marcus as he is set for his return to the 15 shirt. Smith has only started four times before at fullback, with Borthwick eager to see the Harlequin light up the pitch as he did at fullback throughout the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
STEVE BORTHWICK: “If you look at the way Marcus plays, particularly in those unstructured situations, in the Autumn Nations Series and on Saturday, you see how dangerous he was and is. If you give him time and space, he can hurt the opposition.
“You saw on Saturday (against Ireland), and particularly in that first half, the growing nature of the game is players flooding through in support and trying to keep the ball alive. And that’s certainly something we are working upon and having Marcus there at 15, potentially with a little bit more space. I’m sure France are looking at that and at how they deny him that space. I’m looking forward to seeing him have those opportunities.”
3. Focus on Fin Smith: 22-year-old fly half set to lead England to a long awaited win
The England head coach then addressed the decision to select Fin Smith to start in the 10 shirt, with the 22-year-old halfback set for a Northampton Saints reunion with Alex Mitchell as first receiver. Borthwick pinpointed Fin Smith’s excellent distribution skills, and a fearless defensive effort ahead of ‘Le Crunch’.
“You could talk a lot about Fin’s distribution skills, which are excellent. His kicking game is really very, very accurate. Early this season, we had Fin at 30 tackles in a game for Northampton. It tells you a lot about the personality – he’s tough, he’s brave. When players see a fly-half willing to defend like that, they have immense respect for him. So we can talk all about those different skill sets, which he certainly has, he’s an elite player, but he’s also a very tough, brave young man.”
4. England’s Northampton influence in the back-line – Compared to Toulouse in the French spine
Borthwick also addressed how his back-line has a definite tone of green, black and gold to it. Even in the absence of regular fullback George Furbank, Northampton Saints have contributed Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Ollie Sleightholme and Tommy Freeman to the starting backs set-up for the weekend. Borthwick expressed how this is a deliberate decision, which emulates the French consistency in their Stade Toulousain representatives.
STEVE BORTHWICK: “It’s certainly one of the considerations and we’ve talked about that previously in the selection process. It’s one of the considerations to have a number of players that play together. You see the team we’re playing against in France, what they have done for so many years now is select from number of their top teams.
“The obvious one is Toulouse and the spine of the team comes from Toulouse. I know they’ve had one or two injuries there. It’s certainly beneficial in the international environment to have players who’ve played together a number of times.”
5. England hoping to improve tackling efficiency after key missed hits in Dublin
There was a focus upon England’s underwhelming defensive effort against Ireland, as there was a handful of key missed tackles in the lead up to Ireland’s tries. Bundee Aki was able to battle through three England men to score out on the wing, whilst Jamison Gibson-Park slipped past Freddie Steward in the run-up to the Leinster man’s try.
STEVE BORTHWICK: “Certainly the players are working very hard to improve that tackle completion. In the nature of the game right now, and you see in international rugby there has been more a more unstructured nature to the game over the last few months, which means there are many more one-on-one tackles, particularly on edges.
“Being able to complete them is really, really important for us. That’s time working with the players to improve their skill. They’ve been with us now two and a half weeks, most of the players, just under two and a half weeks. Our job is to continue to develop their skill sets.”
The post “It’s an exciting partnership” – Steve Borthwick names both Marcus and Fin Smith for England’s Six Nations clash with France appeared first on Ruck.
