Now the 23-year-old has the keys to No 10 again and is intent on staying long enough to at least replace the wallpaper. At some point Borthwick’s carousel will need to stop spinning as the 2027 World Cup starts drawing uncomfortably close.
Clearly Northampton head coach Sam Vesty is not an impartial observer in this contest and coaches at Sale Sharks and Harlequins would bang the drum equally loudly for their men as well. If Ford represents the conservative power of experience and Marcus Smith a dashing radicalism (Zack Polanski perhaps?), then Fin Smith occupies the middle ground, but Vesty describes him as a fly-half who can both conduct the orchestra and play first violin.
The key to understanding his value, argues Vesty, is not to look at his individual performance in isolation but to look at the backs outside of him. “Fin is the man because he brings the best out of other people,” Vesty told Telegraph Sport. “That’s his true skill. Playing with Fin, he gives the other guys an extra five per cent because he buys them time, recognises space and brings other people in the game really well.
“He is a fantastic defender which seems to get lost. He is a leader and kicks really well. But for me, it is the way he brings others into the game the best and suddenly you have six people outside him looking better. That’s a powerful thing. That’s exponentially good. It is the bit of quality that creates a little bit more space for someone else to look really good but perhaps goes unnoticed.”
A freethinker, Vesty places only limited value on stats in his assessment of players – “why use stats when I can use my eyes?” – but he does reference the fact that no one is better at creating line breaks than Smith. According to Stats Perform, Smith has the most line-break assists in the Premiership since the start of last season. In last year’s Six Nations, he was second behind only Antoine Dupont for line-break assists and try assists.
