Farrell-Smith combination is over, but for how long?

LONDON : England fans wondering if Steve Borthwick has abandoned the concept of twinning Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell will have to wait beyond Sunday's match against Italy after the coach, predictably, said his big call was with only that game in mind.

In the team named on Friday Farrell will start at flyhalf, with Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade in midfield and Smith dropped to the bench.

Smith at 10 and Farrell at 12 has been the England combination for the last eight games - seven under Eddie Jones and in Borthwick's first last week, the home defeat by Scotland. Smith's exuberant, creative performances for Harlequins have demanded his inclusion and Borthwick, like Jones before him, wouldn't consider naming a team not containing Farrell.

However, the pairing has never clicked in they way Farrell and his long-time friend George Ford did, their pinnacle being England's performance for the ages when they beat New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semi-final with Ford at 10 and Farrell a marauding 12.

There was talk that Borthwick would break up the partnership for his first game in charge but, probably influenced by a series of injuries that limited his midfield options, he stuck with it.

As before, it didn't really work. Many observers feel that Smith will never really blossom and show the best of his club form while the dominant personality of Farrell is literally on his shoulder.

His best work for Harlequins comes when he has the line-busting presence of massive South African inside centre Andre Esterhuizen as his first receiver, but the slighter Farrell cannot fill that role.

Instead, the two men more often seem to take it in turns to play flyhalf, rarely producing the kind defence-splitting "double vision" that their coaches