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 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. The creative alliance has been utilised previously towards the end of matches, but never from the beginning.
England have lost seven of their past nine Tests after Saturday's defeat by Ireland. 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.
With his back to the wall, the head coach is taking a playmaker punt. 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 , to deepen the hole they find themselves in. That left Borthwick with an almighty, stick-or-twist dilemma. 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. Borthwick has taken the aggressive move and gone against the recent focus on stability. Marcus Smith sees himself as a 10, but Borthwick has adapted to the challenge France bring. France are a very good defensive team, it was clear on Friday when they beat Wales But we want to go out there next weekend and challenge them.
