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A hand injury to the full-back Freddie Steward could present Marcus Smith with a fresh chance to start for England when they face Fiji at Twickenham on Saturday.
Steve Borthwick’s team will meet the Pacific Islanders in the second of four November internationals after a comfortable opening win against Australia, but the No 15 jersey may become a significant problem for the head coach.
Steward, who started against the Wallabies, received treatment at pitchside in the second half at Twickenham and appeared to be in considerable pain but stayed on for 80 minutes. It is understood that Steward will not return to training until Thursday.
With the full-backs George Furbank of Northampton and Elliot Daly of Saracens already ruled out, Steward’s setback may provide a chance for Smith.
The Harlequins back shifted to No 15 last season to accommodate Fin Smith at fly-half but was left out against Australia. While he lacks the commanding aerial presence of Steward, he would offer more of a running threat against Fiji, who traditionally favour an offloading game. Henry Slade, Tom Roebuck or Henry Arundell could in theory play at full-back but Smith would be the natural choice.
Tommy Freeman started at No 13 against Australia while the in-form centres Slade and Ollie Lawrence missed out, and Borthwick may look to experiment again before aiming to field a first-choice XV for the All Blacks a week on Saturday.
The Saracens flanker Ben Earl, who raced under the posts for England’s first try against the Wallabies, is another player seen as capable of making a switch to midfield. Earl said he would love to play at No 12 and that there are several hybrid options available.
“I am just trying to help the team any way I can,” he said. “We have got a lot of boys now who could do a good job anywhere. Henry [Pollock] could do a very good job on the wing, Ted Hill when he was involved was very, very fast. There are a few boys that could do it. It is going to be a strength of our team going forward. “I would love it,” Earl said of potentially being selected at No 12. “Just playing for England is the best … I am buzzing to be involved.”
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Reflecting on his try on Saturday, Earl described the careful preparation that goes into England’s attacking strategy for contestable kicks under Borthwick: “The aerial game certainly is, and will continue to be, a massive strength of our squad,” he said.
“That’s why you prepare. It’s no coincidence that Sam [Underhill] and I were there in that position because we trained a lot, we focused a lot on that, and you sort of work out where the ball’s going to go.”
Earl also revealed that England have taken inspiration from The Last Dance, the Netflix documentary about the rise of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. “Dennis Rodman talks about it coming off the rim. We spend a lot of time working on watching the balls come out of the hands, not to that same extent, but we talk a lot about where we think the ball’s going to go and gambling. It was no coincidence that Henry scored that try, and that we [Earl and Underhill] had an opportunity to score ourselves.”
