Smith, Arundell and Lawrence in frame to start
Borthwick faces dilemmas to backline selection
Injuries to Tom Roebuck and Freddie Steward look likely to trigger an eye-catching reshuffle in England’s backline for the Test against Fiji on Saturday. Marcus Smith, Henry Arundell and Ollie Lawrence are all in contention to be involved, with Manny Feyi-Waboso potentially the solitary starting back-three survivor from the win against Australia on last Saturday.
The head coach, Steve Borthwick, had been hoping to announce his starting XV early this week only for that plan to be mothballed when Roebuck limped out of training prematurely on Tuesday with an ankle problem. Steward has not trained so far this week after sustaining a finger injury late in the win against the Wallabies, opening the way for Smith to replace him at full-back.
Roebuck was an influential figure against Australia, his aerial skills contributing to two of England’s four tries, but if he is ruled unavailable England are not short of options. In an ideal world the management are keen to continue their experiment of deploying Tommy Freeman at centre, which leaves Arundell and Cadan Murley vying for slots in the matchday 23. And if the dancing Smith starts at 15, a bigger ball-carrying presence such as Lawrence would offer useful midfield balance.
