Former England captain Dylan Hartley believes George Ford is the ideal man to come in for the suspended Owen Farrell in their World Cup opener as he cautioned the idea of dropping Freddie Steward.
Steve Borthwick's side begin their tournament with a clash against Argentina, their main threat when it comes to topping their pool. England, who have lost three warm-up games leading into the World Cup, will be without captain and regular fly-half Farrell, who is still serving his ban.
In his absence, Hartley has backed Ford to fill in with the Sale playmaker starting in England's last two games against Ireland and Fiji. The 30-year-old has amassed 85 caps since his debut in 2014 with his blend of attacking flair and experience a key asset.
The former skipper told Mirror Sport : "He has a lovely sort of balance of front foot attacking threat along with the wise old head of experience by being able to control and manage a game. I don't think there's a better person to start."
Ford's selection would leave Marcus Smith, another of the fly-half options, to take on a different role. The Harlequins 10 has been in and out of the starting XV since making his debut under Eddie Jones and has been training at full-back in the lead up to the Argentina clash.
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It is not a position he's played regularly, but in order to give him minutes Borthwick has used Smith in that role. Should he start there it would mean Freddie Steward, who has been one of England's consistent performers in recent years, may have to drop out.
George Ford has played over 80 times for EnglandThe Leicester man has copped criticism for his lack of ability with ball in hand but his aerial prowess is among the best in the world whilst he's solid defensively. Hartley has warned against dropping Steward and believes Smith is best used as an impact 10 rather than in a makeshift role.
He added: "Freddie Steward is brilliant right and this is where people have to be careful what they wish for. If I was to play against Marcus Smith as a team you'd imagine we'd put the ball pretty high early on, test him.
"Marcus Smith is great when the game is open and he's 20 points down and you've got license to come on and run everything, play your game and do everything you do well at club level. Whereas you don't know what you've got until its gone with Freddie Steward, he does the basics incredibly well.
Former England rugby captain Dylan Hartley has been promoting England's travelling fans"Kicking is a huge part of rugby and Steward diffuses a lot of threats. He's pretty well respected internationally so teams have to play differently against Freddie than they would for Marcus. It is easy to think about what Marcus can do ball in hand and compare him to a Freddie, but then defensively or from a kick disposal point of view, how does Marcus compare to him?
"Look I'm a big fan of Marcus, but if he's not going to play 10 I'd be wary about playing him elsewhere. Who do you want on the field when you need to chase a game and you're seven points down, you need to inject some energy from the bench - for me that is someone like Marcus."
Former England Rugby Captain, Dylan Hartley, has unveiled a unique portrait of England Rugby fans at the iconic Louvre Museum in Paris as part of O2’s Wear la Rose campaign, ahead of England’s first match this weekend.
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