England drop Marcus Smith and retain George Ford for training squad

The England head coach, Steve Borthwick, has sprung a surprise in selection by dropping Marcus Smith to accommodate the possible return of George Ford against France.

Smith has been left out of a 26-man training squad for this week’s camp in Brighton having begun the Six Nations as starting fly-half before spending rounds two and three on the bench.

It is possible that the 24-year-old will miss out on facing France on Saturday week and Ireland on 18 March altogether with Borthwick now having the option of revisiting the Ford-Owen Farrell creative axis that has worked for England in the past.

Ford won the last of his 81 caps against France in last year’s Six Nations but his most recent start was in the same tournament a year earlier. The 29-year-old had fallen out of favour under Eddie Jones and then injured his achilles the 2022 Premiership final, after which he left Leicester for Sale and has only recently made his comeback with 151 minutes across three appearances.

Sign up to The Breakdown

The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed

after newsletter promotion

Ford enjoyed one of his most successful seasons working under Borthwick before England’s new head coach left his post as Tigers boss for Twickenham in December.