'I want to get the attack flowing' - Fin Smith
Guinness Men's Six Nations: England v France
Date: Saturday, 8 February Kick-off: 16:45 GMT Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds and follow live text commentary and highlights on the BBC Sport website and app.
Fly-half Fin Smith says he is focusing on making the rest of the England backline look good on his first Test start on Saturday.
The 22-year-old has been picked at 10 ahead of the more experienced Marcus Smith, who switches to full-back, for the Six Nations second-round game against France at Allianz Stadium.
Fin Smith's international experience has been limited to seven appearances off the bench so far.
"If I can get the attack flowing, get some of the some of the awesome backs we've got into the game, then I'll feel like I've put in a decent performance," he told Rugby Union Weekly.
"The main thing I want to do is is give those guys a platform and and real clarity about what I want from them and hopefully allow them to excel themselves."
His Northampton team-mate Ollie Sleightholme comes in for the injured Cadan Murley on the wing and brings the Saints contingent in the backline up to four with Tommy Freeman and Alex Mitchell also starting.
Tom Willis is at number eight in the only other change to the starting XV, as Ben Earl moves to open-side flanker and Ben Curry drops to the bench.
Former captain Jamie George returns from injury and, along with the versatile Elliot Daly, is among the replacements.
Freddie Steward, who started at 15 in last weekend's defeat by Ireland, drops out of the 23-strong matchday squad.
Head coach Steve Borthwick says that Marcus Smith's ability to beat defenders with ball in hand will be key to countering a France team which regularly kicks deep.
"France pose a physical challenge and a very distinct tactical challenge, particularly with that long kicking game," Borthwick said.
"Marcus is one of the most dangerous players I've ever seen in those unstructured situations.
"He finds space that between defenders that doesn't appear to be there. Marcus is a game-changing player. He's a player with brilliant instincts and I want him to bring all those natural instincts on to the pitch this weekend in an England shirt."
Fin Smith's most-recent fly-half cameo came when he was introduced in the 64th minute in Dublin on Saturday.
England were 10 points adrift at the time but tries from Tom Curry and Tommy Freeman helped the visitors close the gap to a 27-22 final scoreline, ensuring a losing bonus point.
Since the start of 2023, England have lost nine of 11 Tests starting with Marcus Smith at 10, with the only wins in that sequence both coming against Japan.
The Harlequins star prefers to play at fly-half but has been used several times by Borthwick as a full-back.
He was deployed at 15 in wins over Chile, Fiji and Argentina during the 2023 Rugby World Cup and played there for almost the entirety of England's narrow 33-31 loss to France last season following a George Furbank injury.
Fin Smith insists that the pair, along with third centrally-contracted fly-half George Ford, have a strong enough relationship to withstand the strains of selection.
He said: "We're competitive as anything on the pitch and then as soon as the whistle goes it will be 'Oh, Marcus, what did you think of this?' or 'Fordy, what could we have done better here?'
"Just really just picking each other's brains about stuff. I think that's really positive.
"We're all we're driving each other to get better and ultimately it's out of any of our hands who who plays in in the 10 shirt at the weekend."
Willis, whose brother Jack plays for Toulouse and is therefore ineligible for selection for England, has been rewarded for his fine Saracens form.
The 26-year-old will make his first Test start after a couple of replacement appearances.
England suffered their record home defeat the last time they hosted France in the Six Nations, losing 53-10 with Marcus Smith starting at fly-half ahead of Owen Farrell.
France, who thrashed Wales 43-0 in their opening match of this year's tournament, named their team earlier on Thursday with fly-half Matthieu Jalibert and wing Damian Penaud coming into their starting XV.
"He's got a real box of tricks," said Fin Smith of Jalibert.
"If we we give him time, space and and opportunities to run with the ball and put other people in space, it could be a long day for us."
Hear more from Fin Smith and Steve Borthwick on Friday's Rugby Union Weekly.
Team
England: M Smith; Freeman, Lawrence, Slade, Sleightholme; F Smith, Mitchell; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Stuart, Itoje (capt), Martin, T Curry, Earl, Willis
Replacements: George, Baxter, Heyes, Chessum, Cunningham-South, B Curry, Randall, Daly
