“Who should wear No 10 jersey?” has been a fraught selection debate in this England era.
England fans used to fall, generally, into one of two camps – Team George Ford or Team Marcus Smith – and crossing the ideological divide was almost impossible.
But we were denied a judges’ decision on the Ford vs Smith bout when Steve Borthwick realised he could have his cake and eat it with Ford at No 10 and Smith at full-back. Smith replaced Freddie Steward ahead of the 2023 World Cup in a warm-up defeat to Fiji. Smith scored, Ford looked good with an extra set of hands helping to guide the team, and the Ford/Smith axis was born.
Then along came Fin Smith in red-hot form for the irresistible Northampton Saints and the Smith/Smith double act replaced it.
But the England incumbent has now added a calf strain added to the list of tedious niggles, picked up during the Midlands Derby at the weekend, and he has been stood down.
If England are down a Smith when the Australians come to town in two weeks’ time, who should they turn to?
They do have men who have been there and done that in the shape of Marcus Smith, George Ford and Owen Farrell – though the last of those hasn’t featured in an England jersey since steering them past Argentina three years ago in the World Cup bronze final. Then they have an enticing list of new faces consisting of Billy Searle (Leicester Tigers), Charlie Atkinson and George Barton (both Gloucester), and Harvey Skinner (Exeter Chiefs).
What does the form book say?
Marcus Smith’s rise to the England No 10 jersey came because he was the form player in the form team. Then Fin Smith came along and suddenly he was the form player in the form team.
Who is the form team now, then? Gloucester, home to Atkinson and Barton.
For years, Kingsholm has been a miserable place to play rugby but this year the Shed is pumping and in Atkinson and Barton, they have two young heads directing traffic.
Right, George Barton, that is ridiculous
— PREM Rugby (@premrugby) October 12, 2024
Quick thinking from the @gloucesterrugby man to add the extras for Ollie Thorley's score
Watch live on @rugbyontnt#GallagherPrem | #GLOvBAT pic.twitter.com/RJaJhRNWUo
Barton is a full-back, nominally, but then Marcus Smith is a fly-half who wears a different shirt for England. The modern roles of fly-half and full-back have become interchangeable since teams shelved the complicated and exhausting pendulum defence. The pendulum required one of the wingers to drop back and help the No 15 depending on where the ball was.
Instead, teams now task their No 10 and No 15 with dropping deep and each covering half the pitch. When in possession, they slot into the line usually with one at first receiver and the second a little further out guiding the wide options. And the presence of two such players from the same team in key decision-making positions eases the pressure on each, while picking form players would help Borthwick convince fans (and players) that Prem form matters.
Any old, wise heads to come in?
Searle and Skinner occupy a similar slot on the Venn diagram of options. Both are older (30 and 29 respectively) and play for teams who prioritise relentless competency rather than mercurial moments.
Searle arrived in Leicester last season from Agen in the French second division. By the end of the year, not only had he established himself as Leicester’s undoubted first choice, he’d also forced himself onto England’s radar, playing in their “A” game versus Ireland – ahead of Atkinson.
Two lovely things here:
— Ben Coles (@bencoles_) March 22, 2026
– Billy Searle, in the 82nd minute, working hard to get back onside for the kick
– Hamer-Webb having to cut the early celebration short, which is underrated content pic.twitter.com/LcufYKtIkD
Skinner meanwhile has held Exeter’s reins for a while now but has rarely been included in England discussion because the Chiefs, frankly, haven’t been very good. That changed last year when the Devonians navigated their way to the Prem final thanks to an outrageous defensive stand which took them past Bath in the semis.
To describe both players as game managers would be to damn them with faint praise. The modern game, with its 43-41 stock scoreline, does not seem to reward a player who calmly drives his team around with well-placed kicks and smart, rather than reckless, passing. Borthwick, however, does. His England might have evolved beyond the successful-but-paint-dryingly-dull one he took to France in 2023 but he still likes a game manager: Skinner and Searle provide that.
What about George Ford?
So does Ford, whose England career has been difficult to understand when viewed from the outside: I am a Welshman. He has consistently been the player England needed him to be even as fans called for any number of different options to unseat him.
At points it has felt like there is a desire for him to fail, reminiscent of how Dan Biggar was viewed in Wales, or the particularly toxic discourse around Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley across the Irish Sea. This time last year, Ford was guiding England to consecutive wins against Australia, New Zealand and Argentina, but he was shown the door once England’s form abandoned them in the Six Nations. Unfortunately for him, Sale’s form has also vanished and their ten tries scored so far this season are the lowest of any Prem side, and only Quins have scored fewer than their 76 points.
Back to the tried-and-tested Farrell or M. Smith, then?
Farrell’s service to England deserves a final hurrah now he’s back playing in the country. Rugby at the highest level rarely offers such sentimental moments though, and it’s unlikely Farrell can force his way back into the fold at this late hour. His second stint at Saracens hasn’t produced the kind of game-breaking performances he was able to stitch together before he left for France. Now, he is an elite-level Swiss army knife: able to play fly-half and centre, he more often now covers both from the bench.
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As for Marcus Smith, at points over the last year it looked like his England career was winding down. The arrival of his namesake seemed to block his route back to the No 10 jersey, keeping him at 15. There he was chucked into competition with Freddie Steward, who is excellent under the high ball and is called upon to diffuse opposition kicking games – but he was sacrificed alongside Ford when England’s Six Nations went sideways.
That waas good news for Marcus but it’s undoubtedly true that England struggle with him at No 10. The last time they won consecutive games with him there was 2022, away to Australia. Since then he’s played fifteen games at fly-half for England and his record is three wins, one draw, and eleven losses.
Who would you pick?
If Fin is crook, Marcus Smith needs to be involved: he has come flying back into the Quins set-up with renewed vigour. But, at the highest level he works best as a full-back foil for a more controlled No 10.
With Ford struggling, that should be Searle. And it would be no small irony that a man who had to bounce between Bath, Toulouse, Biarritz and Agen before finding a home in Leicester would be the person to introduce stability to an exciting English attack.