England issue update on Fin Smith selection chances ahead of Australia

Fin Smith is on track to pilot England in Sunday’s autumn opener against Australia at Allianz Stadium after making crucial progress in his battle with a calf problem.

Smith on Wednesday trained fully alongside his team-mates for the first time since sustaining the injury on Northampton duty against Leicester on October 24 and came through the session without any setbacks.

Unless his recovery stalls, England are hopeful that their first choice fly-half will be fit to take his place in the starting XV when head coach Steve Borthwick names his team on Friday.

“Fin trained and got through all right so we’re cautiously optimistic that he’s available for selection,” defence coach Richard Wigglesworth said.

“We’ll need to see what the next 24 hours are like in terms of his reaction, but he did well in training.

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8 Nov 26

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“We’re training again on Friday so obviously he’s got to train then, but we’ll know before then the state of his availability. We’re pretty optimistic.”

Smith wrestled back control of the number 10 jersey from George Ford during the last two rounds of the Six Nations and has started England’s last five Tests in the position.

The 24-year-old British and Irish Lion provides outstanding game management, ferocity in defence and a growing attacking threat playing flat to the line.

“As you’d expect from someone of his age, ability and mindset, he’s improving all the time,” Wigglesworth said.

“He’s in great form. He’s made a real difference to us in the last couple of Test matches.

“He’s in a great spot to play and you need to be as a fly-half for England because you have George Ford and Marcus Smith there as well.”

Smith’s likely availability is a big boost to England as they look to build on the wins against Fiji and Argentina that saved their July tour.

“Fin looked good,” number eight Ben Earl said. “He’s a class, class player who has been in unbelievable form for a number of years.

“He deserves to be given the time to give himself the best chance to play. He looked very good in training and I’m looking forward to seeing him go.”

British sprint star Amy Hunt, who became the first athlete to win four gold medals at the European Championship in August, was a visitor to England’s camp on Wednesday.

“We’ve all seen Amy on TV, running a lot quicker than anyone will be this weekend!” Wigglesworth said.

“She’s been having dinner with a few of the boys now, so it’ll be interesting to see what she took from it and what our lads enjoyed about it.”