Smith and Farrell vie for No 10 as injury rules Lawes out of France tie

Ford sent back to his club as Wilkinson lends expertise to improve England kicking

- Gerard Meagher

Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell are going head to head for the England No 10 jersey against France after both were retained in a trimmed down squad with the latter enlisting the help of Jonny Wilkinson to solve his goalkicking troubles before the crunch Six Nations match in Saturday.

Steve Borthwick cut George Ford from his squad last night, leaving the recently recalled Smith in line to make the 23-man squad against France and vying with Farrell for the fly-half berth. In a blow for the England head coach, however, Courtney Lawes has been ruled out of the rest of the championship with a shoulder injury.

Borthwick must now decide whether to stick by Farrell at No 10 or, assuming he does not drop his captain, shift him to inside-centre and start Smith, who has made late cameos from the bench in England's past two matches.

Smith has returned to the squad this week after he was dropped from the training camp in Brighton last week in order to get more game time with Harlequins, emphatically proving a point with a man-of-the-match display against Exeter. The England assistant coach Kevin Sinfield confirmed Smith was "in the mix" for selection.