Steve Borthwick turns to Fin and Marcus Smith for crunch France clash – so can they move England up the Six Nations charts?

Eighties music aficionados will know that when The Smiths were together, they could play a bit — but they weren’t the most uplifting combination. Hits included What Difference Does It Make? and Is It Really So Strange?

Whether or not Steve Borthwick was a fan of the Manchester band is unclear, but unlikely. They were probably before his time, given that the England head coach was born in 1979.

But now, on his watch, the national team are set to have their own Smiths ensemble and the hope is that they will have everyone dancing to a cheerier tune at Twickenham on Saturday.

Perhaps they will make a difference — and it won’t be so strange for them to operate in tandem in the Six Nations encounter with title favourites France.

On Thursday, Borthwick will confirm his line-up for Le Crunch and sources have indicated to Mail Sport that Fin Smith will make his first start for England at 10, with Marcus Smith shifting to full back to make room for the Saints’ 22-year-old playmaker.

The creative alliance has been utilised previously towards the end of matches, but never from the beginning.

It is daring and it is risky. England are striving to end a demoralising run of poor results — following seven defeats in their last nine Tests — but the man in charge appears to have opted to go for broke.

While the English rugby public have been losing faith with the current regime, they will surely admire this willingness to take a leap into new selection territory, for such a grand, dangerous occasion. It may not work, it may go badly wrong, but they certainly won’t die wondering. With his back to the wall, the head coach is taking a playmaker punt.

There were rumours of this potential alliance of the Smiths weeks ago, but it didn’t materialise for the Championship opener in Dublin. Instead, Marcus stayed at 10 — where he had started the previous seven internationals — and Fin was forced to bide his time on the bench once again.

But England went on to lose 27-22, to deepen the hole they find themselves in. That left Borthwick with an almighty, stick-or-twist dilemma.

Barring any training mishaps in the next few days, he has chosen to twist again, like he did two summers ago — when he first embraced the possibility of sending Harlequins’ mercurial fly-half into the wide open backfield spaces.

This is an intriguing decision for so many reasons, not least because it flies in the face of the recent emphasis on stability.

England have been trying to establish attacking cohesion and recognising that the best means of achieving it is by having settled combinations. But after the latest loss, against the Irish, Borthwick did hint at the competing need to pick teams on a horses-for-courses basis.

‘There is always that balance and I’ll look at what we need next week against France,’ he said at the Aviva Stadium.

‘The way we are trying to attack, we can cause problems. France are a very good defensive team, it was clear on Friday (when they beat Wales 43-0). But we want to go out there next weekend and challenge them. We want to play quickly. You can see that we have pace on those edges and we can score tries.’

The rethink is partly a reflection of an altogether different tactical challenge this week. In summary, France kick long, whereas Ireland kick in order to compete in the air. What it means is that England are less in need of a towering full back with aerial prowess — Freddie Steward — and more in need of a counter-attacking threat from deep, which is where magic Marcus comes in.

‘We lost a couple of kick exchanges and they were costly,’ said Borthwick, after the game against Ireland.

‘Now France, the kicking game is a different type of kicking game. Today was much more of a contestable battle — next week will be different with the way France play. Tactically, we’ve got to adjust and be adaptable there.’

Marcus Smith can certainly function effectively as the last line of defence, as he has done for club and country. He started at full back in the 2023 World Cup quarter-final against Fiji — another game in which the opposition were deemed less likely to jump against him to reclaim possession — and he has scored thrilling tries and run amok in that position for Harlequins this season.

But — and it is a significant but — the player views himself as a fly-half and his national coach knows it. ‘I think Marcus is a 10 who can play at 15,’ said Borthwick, after naming his Six Nations squad last month. ‘That’s a conversation I had with Marcus and he sees it the same way. His preferred position is 10, but he is incredibly dangerous in space. I’ve started him in a 15 shirt for England and most recently started him at 10, but moved him to 15 later in games. Having that versatility is important, but he’s a 10 who can play 15.’

Another subplot is the concern about experience, or a lack of it. After his team had been out-smarted by Ireland last Saturday, Borthwick spoke repeatedly about their relative shortage of caps, compared to those sorts of opponents.

So, a solution was staring him in the face: to recall George Ford, who is two caps short of reaching his hundred. However, Mail Sport understands that, instead, Fin Smith will be backed to wield the baton and run the show.

It is a demonstration of faith in a rising star of the English game. Since moving from Worcester to Northampton when the Warriors went bust, the young stand-off has gone from strength to strength.

His composed, imperious demonstration of big-match control to inspire a victory over Munster in Limerick last season convinced the England management that he was Test-ready. He repeated the feat last month with another match-winning contribution as the Saints beat the same Irish province, at home this time.

Fin’s robust defence also counts positively in his favour, as France prepare to unleash a powerful, hard-carrying side at Twickenham. One sledgehammer hit on Bath flanker Miles Reid resonated recently with the watching Borthwick.

Make no mistake though, the young conductor is destined for a high-stakes landmark in his career. There are certain parallels with this fixture two years ago, when Borthwick opted to leave Owen Farrell on the bench, so he could gauge Marcus Smith’s ability to dictate terms without the captain peering over his shoulder. It didn’t quite go to plan, with England slumping to a record 53-10 defeat.

‘The context is very different,’ said the head coach, when asked in Dublin about an ordeal which is still uncomfortably fresh in the memory. He is ready to back his playmaker pair and ignore another awkward omen.

The Smiths released other songs called Panic, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now and I Know It’s Over. If this selection gamble backfires, those titles may seem sadly relevant on Saturday night.