Marcus Smith has handed England a major injury scare before the start of the Six Nations after he limped out of training and was later seen using crutches. Smith was due to undergo a scan on a leg injury on Monday night leaving Steve Borthwick with a significant headache over his fly-half plans for Saturday’s opener against Italy in Rome.
If Smith is ruled out against the Azzurri it would be a significant blow following the decision by Owen Farrell to make himself unavailable. Smith was deployed as a makeshift full-back during the World Cup but without Farrell, the 24-year-old Harlequins fly-half was hoping to seize the No 10 jersey. At England’s training camp in Girona, Borthwick is already without the majority of his World Cup backline with Farrell choosing to step away, Manu Tuilagi and Ollie Lawrence injured, Joe Marchant and Henry Arundell off limits in France and Jonny May retired.
