Steve Borthwick has named three fly-halves in his 36-man England squad to prepare for the Guinness Six Nations clash with France on Saturday after re-calling Marcus Smith following his man of the match performance for Harlequins against Exeter Chiefs at the weekend.
Having been dropped from the national training camp in Brighton last week to get game time, Smith returns to join Owen Farrell and George Ford as the options for Steve Borthwick at number 10. Smith came off the bench during England’s last two Six Nations matches against Italy and Wales, but played less than nine minutes of Test rugby across those fixtures.
However, he starred for Harlequins against Exeter at Twickenham on Saturday in the Big Game 14 and put in a headline-grabbing performance during their 40-5 victory, earning a recall to the 36-man squad. However, his place in the matchday 23 is less certain, though, following Ford’s return to fitness after recovering from an Achilles injury.
Manu Tuilagi was also named in the squad, but cannot appear in the match through suspension paving the way for another start at 12 for Bath's Ollie Lawrence.
Harlequins Cadan Murley was included as the only uncapped player in the squad.
England bounced back from a disappointing 29-23 defeat to Scotland at Twickenham in the opening match of the Six Nations to overcome Italy and Wales in their last two games.
FULL SQUAD
FORWARDS
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 8 caps)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 98 caps)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks, 3 caps)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 12 caps)
Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby, 3 caps)
Ben Earl (Saracens, 15 caps)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 46 caps)
Jamie George (Saracens, 75 caps)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 7 caps)
Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 10 caps)
Maro Itoje (Saracens, 65 caps)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 97 caps)
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 17 caps)
David Ribbans (Northampton Saints, 3 caps)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 2 caps)
Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, 18 caps)
Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 59 caps)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 77 caps)
Jack Walker (Harlequins, 2 caps)
Jack Willis (Toulouse, 8 caps)
BACKS
Henry Arundell (London Irish, 5 caps)
Owen Farrell (Saracens, 104 caps)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 3 caps)
George Ford (Sale Sharks, 81 caps)
Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 10 caps)
Max Malins (Saracens, 17 caps)
Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 14 caps)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 3 caps)
Cadan Murley (Harlequins, uncapped)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 54 caps)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 20 caps)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 20 caps)
Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 50 caps)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 10 caps)
Anthony Watson (Leicester Tigers, 53 caps)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 122 caps)
