{"id":514526,"date":"2026-03-02T20:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T20:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/514526\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T20:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T20:31:07","slug":"fin-smith-expected-to-start-for-england-in-six-nations-clash-with-italy-england-rugby-union-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/514526\/","title":{"rendered":"Fin Smith expected to start for England in Six Nations clash with Italy | England rugby union team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Borthwick is ready to radically overhaul his misfiring England side for the Six Nations clash against Italy on Saturday, with Fin Smith expected to be handed the No 10 jersey.<\/p>\n

The Northampton fly-half sat out training on Monday because of illness but England have been quick to allay fears that his participation against Italy is in doubt. Provided he recovers, Smith is expected to start at fly-half in place of George Ford.<\/p>\n

Since the tour of Argentina last summer<\/a>, Ford has established himself as Borthwick\u2019s first-choice fly-half but he endured a miserable outing against Ireland<\/a> and was jeered by supporters after twice missing touch with kicks to the corner. Smith, meanwhile, has played a bit-part role in the championship to date.<\/p>\n

Borthwick is also expected to rejig his centre combination and back three in a back-line that may feature only one survivor from the dismal defeat by Ireland, with Tommy Freeman expected to move from wing to centre.<\/p>\n

With Alex Mitchell absent because of a hamstring injury, Ben Spencer of Bath is the favourite for the No 9 jersey, ahead of Leicester\u2019s Jack van Poortvliet.<\/p>\n

Without Ollie Lawrence, who has a knee injury, Freeman is expected to return to outside-centre where he started against Wales<\/a> and Scotland<\/a>, with Tom Roebuck returning on the right wing. At full-back, Freddie Steward\u2019s place is under considerable threat, while on the left wing Cadan Murley is under consideration for a second Six Nations appearance, while Seb Atkinson is ready to take Fraser Dingwall\u2019s place at inside-centre. There are fewer changes expected in the pack but Borthwick has a concern over Ollie Chessum, who sat out training on Monday.<\/p>\n

Raffi Quirke passes the ball to George Ford during an England training session at Pennyhill Park. Photograph: David Rogers\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

England\u2019s hopes of clinching the Six Nations<\/a> title are over but they have never lost against Italy and the back-rower Ben Earl has revealed there have been some home truths aired this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the weeks where boys have a little glint in their eye,\u201d he said. \u201cThey mean business. You look at some of the big guys in our squad and go, \u2018something good is coming\u2019. We are all hoping that is going to materialise on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few of us had a meeting last Wednesday and laid it bare. There are people in the squad who don\u2019t feel they\u2019ve pulled their weight or performed well enough. Once you get that out there, it\u2019s about how you move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

England have also received words of inspiration from the two-time Olympic skeleton gold medallist Matt Weston. The 29-year-old was the favourite for gold at Milan-Cortina and lived up to his billing<\/a>, having fallen short at the Beijing Winter Olympics four years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe spoke about Beijing and how he felt like he\u2019d really let everyone down,\u201d Earl said. \u201cHe spoke about a big push to get to the Olympics just gone and about his four-year plan. Obviously that made boys\u2019 ears prick up with talk of World Cup cycles. Then we went on to say what he had to do to be in the best place for that Olympics and the hardships he went through in those four years. The boys here were thinking: \u2018That\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re going through.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Six Nations trophy has been damaged beyond repair in a vehicle fire in Ireland, organisers have announced. No one was injured in the accident, which took place after the third round, and the remains of the trophy will be used to create a new piece of silverware. It will not be ready in time for presentation this year, however, meaning the winners will receive a replica.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Borthwick is ready to radically overhaul his misfiring England side for the Six Nations clash against Italy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-514526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}