MARCUS SMITH HAS been entrusted with the fly-half duties for England’s Guinness Six Nations clash with France after Steve Borthwick made the bombshell decision to drop captain Owen Farrell.
Farrell has been demoted to the bench for the first time since 2015 for Saturday’s Twickenham showdown with the Grand Slam champions.
Ellis Genge is named captain for the first time in place of Farrell but there are no further changes to the starting XV that toppled Wales in round three.
“The players selected to face our visitors are again a reflection of what I see to be the right balance of personnel for the challenge we face in this game,” Borthwick said,
“Marcus Smith starts at fly-half and Dave Ribbans returns to the match day 23. Congratulations to Ellis Genge who will captain the side for the first time.”
Smith started the tournament in the number 10 jersey against Scotland but then had to settle for cameo roles off the bench against Italy and Wales, with his game time in Cardiff limited to just 14 seconds.
The 24-year-old was released to play for Harlequins last weekend and having delivered a classy man of the match display against Exeter, now finds himself given the task of launching England’s backline.
Farrell’s form so far in the Six Nations has been reasonable enough, but his success ratio off the kicking tee reads an unacceptable 47 per cent.
However, Borthwick was still expected to keep faith with England’s talisman and has once again shown his ruthless streak by freezing him out of the starting XV.
Farrell follows Manu Tuilagi and Ben Youngs among the big names jettisoned by Borthwick since he replaced Eddie Jones as head coach in December.
England (vs France)
15. Freddie Steward
14. Max Malins
13. Henry Slade
12. Ollie Lawrence
11. Anthony Watson
10. Marcus Smith
9. Jack van Poortvliet
1. Ellis Genge (C)
2. Jamie George
3. Kyle Sinckler
4. Maro Itoje
5. Ollie Chessum
6. Lewis Ludlam
7. Jack Willis
8. Alex Dombrandt
Replacements
16. Jack Walker
17. Mako Vunipola
18. Dan Cole
19. David Ribbans
20. Ben Curry
21. Alex Mitchell
22. Owen Farrell
23. Henry Arundell
