Six Nations 2024: Marcus Smith RULED OUT of England’s clash at Italy as he’s spotted on crutches after training injury
MARCUS SMITH added to England’s injury nightmare as he was ruled out of the Six Nations opener with Italy following an injury in training.
The fly-half was seen arriving back at the team hotel with crutches and was immediately taken to a local hospital for a scan.
Smith, 24, was favourite to start at stand-off on Saturday against the Italians with George Ford having knee issues and Northampton’s Fin Smith uncapped.
But now England have confirmed his absence for the trip to Rome.
Assistant coach Kevin Sinfield said: “[Marcus] won’t make this weekend sadly. It is a calf injury.
“We got the scan report through but we are waiting to understand exactly what that means for us moving forward.
“He’s not fit for this weekend. At the minute, we’re waiting for a second opinion on the scan. We will know more then.
“[Marcus is] a big loss. He’s an outstanding guy who I have absolutely loved working with and I have got a really good connection with.
“But what that does is provide opportunities for others. We have said it since I have been working with England that we are blessed with the 10s that we have got.
“Fin Smith’s been in camp before, his form has been outstanding for Northampton and he has trained great too. Without giving too much away, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out where that might leave us.
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“We have got Fin and George who has got 91 caps I think, so he has got that experience, and a young gun who has been in top, top form. We’re still in a very, very good position.”
He ran the show in Northampton’s recent Champions Cup win away at Munster and was pushing his namesake anyway.
Attack coach Richard Wigglesworth added: “He’s a very impressive young man in terms of how he has got good opinions on the attack, good solutions for people — ‘I’d like you to do this, are we thinking about this?’. He’s proactive and already offering that.
“He has had a really good start and is impressive.
“After meeting him, and training with him for a couple of weeks in World Cup training camp, that’s what I remember from him, and he’s developed again and is playing really well.
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“Fin is that sort of character who is very keen to improve. He’s got a winning mentality, a winning edge to him.
“I really like that he’s driven that team forward at Northampton and he’s made a big difference to them.”
Ford did play in Sale’s Champions Cup defeat to La Rochelle ten days ago but gave up the kicking duties in the match when he was struggling with his knee.
Wigglesworth stressed: “He’s fully operational. It was that just bit of knee pain that was affecting his kicking on the snap right at the very end.
“He’s done a load of work with Kevin Sinfield and, by all accounts, he’s missed one all week.”
Ollie Lawrence, George Martin, Anthony Watson, Jack van Poortvliet, Tom Curry, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Manu Tuilagi are all on the injured list.
But centre Lawrence, lock Martin and hooker Cowan-Dickie could be in the frame for the Wales game on February 10.
Meanwhile, Exeter centre Henry Slade, back in favour after his World Cup snub, revealed how he persuaded Cardiff-born winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso to choose England over Wales.
The flying youngster is eligible for both countries but Slade pointed him in England’s direction under the nose of the Wales captain, who plays for Chiefs.
Slade said: “After we played Bristol he was having a chat with me about England, and Dafydd Jenkins was talking to him about Wales — and Joe Hawkins got a picture of it. It sounds like I won that discussion.”