'England actually looked better with Fin Smith at 10'

Who would have thought that possibly the biggest debate in English rugby would have emerged from the final 25 minutes of their entire Autumn Nations Series campaign?

But Fin Smith’s late cameo at fly-half has opened up the England No10 debate heading into the 2025 Six Nations, and perhaps later than many would have wanted in November.

The Northampton Saints playmaker’s assured performance, albeit against a weak Japan side with the game already won, has sparked the discussion as to whether England are better suited with his steady hand pulling the strings and the maverick Marcus Smith at full-back.

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Former England scrum-half Ben Youngs is already one to raise the question, and he is not alone. Former World Cup winner Will Greenwood has also mooted the idea of the 22-year-old being handed the England No10 jersey despite Marcus probably being England’s best performer this month.

Whether Marcus Smith would start at full-back, have a cameo at full-back in the closing stages or start on the bench with George Furbank holding onto the No15 shirt are some of the ways that Borthwick could go, but it is a debate that will rage on for the next two months before their opening match of the Six Nations against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.

In the meantime, both players have some huge matches to impress the England coaching team and the public. Quins have Investec Champions Cup matches against Racing 92, the Stormers, Toulon and United Rugby Championship winners Glasgow Warriors, while Northampton face the Bulls and Munster in the Champions Cup, as well as some crunch Gallagher Premiership clashes against Saracens and Bath.

Unfortunately, the Smith derby, where both players will go head-to-head is the week before the Six Nations, so both will unlikely play.

But the late cameo from Fin has muddied the waters in the England No10 discussion, which seemed fairly clear-cut just a week ago.

Youngs opened up this “interesting debate” on his podcast For the Love of Rugby, saying: “England actually looked better with Fin Smith at 10 – now hear me out – in terms of their actual structured movement, their team organisation and the way the ball moved and the flow of the attack.

“Marcus has been England’s standout player, so I’m not suggesting that he replaces him in any way, shape or form. But it was just interesting seeing Fin Smith coming in at 10, Marcus go to full-back and his ability, Fin, to move the ball a little bit more and England looked like they had a bit more structure in terms of their attacking patterns and phases. I actually really liked the look of that.

“Marcus, again, he is a maverick player. We need him getting the ball as many times as possible to make things happen and I just wonder whether he could end up being that full-back slot. Because Fin Smith today, it’s Japan, back end of the game, Japan didn’t offer much, but just looked structurally a bit better in attack with a bit more rhythm and flow to it, but it also allowed Marcus to do his absolute wizardry stuff.

“I do look at Fin Smith and think he’s got brilliant Test match attributes, I really do. I think he’s got really good Test match ability attributes to play and be a very, very good Test match 10. He’s a bit of both, and I mean that in the most complimentary way. ”

Joining Youngs on the podcast was his Leicester Tigers team-mate and England wing Anthony Watson, who remains certain that the Harlequin should be England’s fly-half moving forward.

“I just can’t get with it,” Watson said. “I think at the moment Marcus is the man. I don’t think putting him at full-back is the right call right now.

“I think that Fin Smith looked brilliant when he came on, he looked like he fed people, put them in space. I know that Marcus can do that. We see him do it for Quins.

“But he’s been so unbelievably threatening ball in hand throughout the whole autumn series that if your go-to guy is getting you go-forward and the opposition aren’t defending it, just keep doing it. Marcus is able to keep doing that, keep breaking the line, keep setting up tries with magic. So I just don’t see how putting him somewhere else is beneficial for the team when he’s doing a great job at 10.

“Yeah, he could potentially bring in the other players more, but that will probably happen over the Six Nations, in my opinion, when teams start defending him, closing up the spaces and closing up his show and go. Then it has to be the option for him to pass it.

“So I think when your man’s your man, you stick with him and you try and build around him and revolve around him and I think that Marcus is in that position now where that should be happening. I’m sure that England are trying to do that and I’m positive that the more he plays in that position, the more he’s given just a run of games at 10, running the show, everyone will get on the same page as him.

“I don’t think putting him to full-back, or starting at full-back at least, is a viable option. That’s no slight on Fin Smith or Marcus’ ability at full-back, I think it’s what’s best for the team. From 50, 60 minutes giving him a run at full-back, no issues, but he’s the starting 10 for me and I don’t want to see them deviate from that.”