Six Nations 2024: Steve Borthwick ‘very hopeful’ England star Marcus Smith will be available to face Ireland

Steve Borthwick is “very hopeful” fly-half Marcus Smith will be available for England’s Six Nations game against Ireland at Twickenham on March 9.

Smith injured his calf in a pre-tournament training camp in Girona and has missed the first three fixtures as England followed up wins against Italy and Wales with a fourth successive Calcutta Cup defeat to Scotland.

Next up, England take on Andy Farrell’s Irish juggernaut, with the visitors heavy favourites to clinch a second Grand Slam in a row after beating France, Italy and Wales convincingly.

Borthwick has also been boosted by an update on the fitness of scrum-half Alex Mitchell. Mitchell picked up a knee injury ahead of the Scotland clash at Murrayfield and it was feared it would rule him out for the rest of the tournament.

“I’m very hopeful that Marcus will be available for selection, for this latter part of the tournament,” Borthwick said.

“We’ve had positive news on Alex Mitchell’s injury too, so hopefully he will feature in the latter part of the tournament too.

“Whether that’s the next game or the last one, I’m not sure. He’ll come in on Wednesday and continue his rehab. We’ll have a good look of where he is.”

It’s believed Mitchell and Smith are Borthwick’s preferred starting half-back partnership. Veteran No. 10 George Ford has started all three games so far but has been largely ineffective, while Danny Care was called up for his 99th cap at scrum-half for the Scotland encounter.

Borthwick vowed there would be an “unbelievably honest” review into what happened in Edinburgh as England let a 10-0 lead slip to lose 30-21 in a disappointing display that left their Six Nations hopes hanging by a thread.

But he also insisted patience was required to allow players of varying levels of experience to adjust to a new style.

“There is a balance through this period of giving the players the time to develop and the time to understand the relationships that are required and also for us to develop as a team,” Borthwick added.

“Whilst also ensuring we make the changes that are required and dealing with injuries and bumps and bruises.”

Ahead of the tournament and after being booed at times by their own fans during a run to the semi-finals of last year’s World Cup, Borthwick promised a more exciting brand of rugby that would restore the English DNA.

Former South Africa defence coach Felix Jones was brought in to implement a blitz defence, which was exploited by Scotland’s potent attack.

Going forward themselves, there was a brief glimpse into what Borthwick is trying to build when George Furbank scored in the fifth minute at the end of a lightning attack, but such moments have been few and far between.

Yet with the visit of Ireland to the English capital fast approaching, No. 8 Ben Earl insists the gameplan won't change.

“The coaches won’t let us do that and we don’t want to do that,” Earl said. “We love the way we’re playing, I really enjoyed that game [against Scotland] for the most part, the scoreline aside I thought it was a brilliant Test match, coming down to such fine margins.

“It just shows, 15 men v 15 men, it only takes one or two players to have a moment off or one skill error and the whole game flips on its head. It just shows the fine margins of Test match rugby and I thought it was a brilliant game.

“We’ve got no choice, it has to be the best thing [playing Ireland]. We can’t change the game. We’ve got two weeks trying to work out how we beat them.

"They’re probably one of the top two, three teams in the world but I have full confidence that our leaders in the squad and the coaches will come up with a solution on how to beat them.”

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