England have preferred Marcus Smith to the fast-emerging Fin Smith as their starting fly-half for Saturday’s Test against Eddie Jones’s Japan. The choice at No 10 was always likely to be a keynote selection for the head coach, Steve Borthwick, and he has gone for the 25-year-old Harlequin rather than hand a first Test start to the Northampton playmaker.
The experienced Owen Farrell or George Ford have previously been relied on to set the tactical tone and, in their absence, the elder Smith has been awaiting an opportunity to claim the starting shirt. Until an untimely injury struck in January the latter had been poised to be England’s first-choice fly-half in the Six Nations but Ford eventually took the reins instead.
With the latter now unavailable through injury and Farrell heading to France there had been some speculation the younger Smith might be fast-tracked. The 22-year-old has just been voted the players’ player of the year by the Rugby Players’ Association and is also fresh from steering Saints to the domestic Premiership title, but his more established rival has been given the nod before next month’s two-Test series in New Zealand.
It means the Quins gamebreaker will now partner the Northampton scrum-half Alex Mitchell and underlines England’s commitment to the quicker, more attacking style of play they produced in the latter half of this year’s Six Nations. There is also a first Test start for another Harlequin, Chandler Cunningham-South, in a starting XV showing a total of four changes from the team’s last game, against France in Lyon.
The dynamic Cunningham-South, a powerful ball-carrier with a big future, replaces the injured Ollie Chessum at blindside flanker, while Sale’s Bevan Rodd fills the front-row hole left by another pre-tour casualty, Ellis Genge. In addition to Smith’s return at fly-half, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is back on the wing having missed the France game.
The match-day squad, announced ahead of schedule in a rainswept Tokyo, will also see the return on the bench of Tom Curry, who has not featured for England since the Rugby World Cup because of a hip problem that required surgery. His uncapped clubmate Tom Roebuck is in line for a debut as a replacement, with Bath’s Charlie Ewels and Bristol’s Harry Randall also recalled.
England starting XV to face Japan on Saturday: G Furbank; I Feyi-Waboso, H Slade, O Lawrence, T Freeman; M Smith, A Mitchell; B Rodd, J George (capt), D Cole, M Itoje, G Martin, C Cunningham-South, S Underhill, B Earl.
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Replacements: T Dan, J Marler, W Stuart, C Ewels, T Curry, H Randall, F Smith, T Roebuck.
