The Prague Post - Marcus Smith starts at full-back as England ring changes for Fiji

Smith, primarily a fly-half was left out of the matchday 23 entirely as England launched their Autumn Nations Series campaign with a 25-7 win at home to Australia.

George Ford started at fly-half against the Wallabies, with Fin Smith providing fly-half cover off the bench.

But with full-back Freddie Steward struggling with a hand injury suffered against Australia, Harlequins playmaker Marcus Smith is now back in the team wearing the No 15 shirt with Fin Smith starting at fly-half.

Ellis Genge will lead the team as one of two co-captains, the second being regular skipper Maro Itoje who is named on the bench for the first time since 2017.

Only six players who started against Australia are in the same positions this weekend, with Tommy Freeman moving to the wing from centre and Ben Earl moving across from No 8 to openside flanker.

Earl's back-row switch means Chandler Cunningham-South makes his first Test start at No 8 as England coach Steve Borthwick looks to build positional depth ahead of the 2027 World Cup in Australia following Tom Willis's decision to leave England to join French side Bordeaux-Begles next season.

Fiji are due to name their team later Thursday.

England beat Fiji 30-24 in a tense 2023 World Cup quarter-final in Marseille, having lost to the Pacific islanders for the first time just weeks earlier in a pre-tournament warm-up game at Twickenham.

England (15-1)

Marcus Smith; Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Fraser Dingwall, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Chandler Cunningham-South, Ben Earl, Guy Pepper; Ollie Chessum, Alex Coles; Joe Heyes, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge (co-capt)

Replacements: Jamie George, Fin Baxter, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Maro Itoje (co-capt), Tom Curry, Henry Pollock, Ben Spencer, Henry Arundell

Coach: Steve Borthwick (ENG)

O.Holub--TPP