Marcus Smith sent message to Eddie Jones after scoring stunning try against Japan

: “Team selection is entirely Steve’s decision as England Head Coach.”

Jones, in an episode of his podcast EDDIE, suggested that the Rugby Football Union (RFU) may have influenced Smith's selection over former captain Owen Farrell.

“The selection of Marcus — to me that’s always the political selection,” Jones stated. He went on to describe how external pressures, particularly from the media, can impact team decisions. “A player has been out of form, hasn’t quite done well at Test level and then he plays one or two club games and he’s a hero. The media starts banging on the door — you’ve got to pick him, you’ve got to pick him — and then the board reacts to that, and ask, ‘Why aren’t you picking him?’”

Jones also touched on the challenges young coaches face in such situations. “When you’re a young coach at the start of your career you can get influenced by that. I really felt for Marcus in that game. The thing you’ve got in England is the intensity of the media, which then affects the board, and they start to step in, and that’s when you get problems. Allow the coach to coach.”

He added that the board should focus on strategic roles rather than getting involved in the operational side of team selection. “The board have a strategic role, but because they feel the pressure they try to get involved in the operational side, and that’s when things get worse. Unless you have strong people around the team that can be a difficulty.”

Responding to these claims, an RFU spokesperson told Telegraph Sport

Despite the controversy, Marcus Smith delivered a stellar performance today, scoring a stunning try for England against Jones' Japan.

Smith glided through the Japanese defence, executing a flawless fake pass before diving over between the posts. He capped off his first half display with a sublime 50-22, reinforcing his place in the team.

Here, we explore the current odds on who might succeed Borthwick as the next England head coach.

Woodward is the World Cup winning Head Coach who led England’s rugby players to World Cup glory in Australia in 2003.

A former England International and British & Irish Lion himself, prior to his full time coaching career Clive established a successful business career working for nine years with Xerox in the UK and Australia before establishing his own small finance and leasing company.

During Clive’s tenure as Head Coach England moved from 6th in the world to being the number one ranked team, winning every trophy an England team can win.

Currently in charge of Georgia, he was part of the England coaching staff up until the end of the 2023 Six Nations.

Currently the Munster head coach.

Although Baxter joined the England coaching team for the summer tour to Argentina and Uruguay in March 2013, he has no other experience outside of Exeter.

"I would be happy to have a chat about what the role is, how they see it working and what their plans and ambitions are," Baxter said of the England job.

"Unless you know what it is, it's hard to say yes or no to anything. At the same time, I'm not looking for another job! I'm very happy here," he added.

The South African has previously declared an interest in the job. If the double Rugby World Cup-winner became available you have to think the RFU would ditch their preference to appoint Englishmen.

The La Rochelle coach was seen as one of the front-runners to replace Eddie Jones when he was sacked in December.

O’Gara has previously said he would be interested in the job because of the calibre of players available, but when linked to the job he admitted it would be a 'big leap'.

"There’s a lot to that, being the head man it’s very much your vision. Even two people who are very aligned sometimes don’t have the same vision.

“Then again, titles don’t really interest me too much and it’s just what role Scott would like to do, I would like to do and how you share responsibility.

Currently, one of the coaches England would be most interested in having is Farrell, who is achieving impressive results and playing styles across the Irish Sea.

However, whether or not Farrell would want to return to the RFU, where he was previously the defence coach between 2011 and 2015 under Stuart Lancaster - who is currently working in Ireland with Leinster - and left under a cloud after England's disappointing 2015 home World Cup, is another matter altogether.

The former England boss, who has seen his reputation go through the roof since the disastrous 2015 World Cup, is currently Racing 92 boss after joining from Leinster last summer.

ancaster had been Irish province's senior coach since 2016, working under head coach Leo Cullen, while he spent four years as England boss before stepping down after in 2015.

During his time with Leinster, the Irish province won the Heineken Champions Cup in 2018 and four PRO14 titles.

The former England boss revealed he could be interested in a return to England.

“If you ask my wife, she might question my sanity if I said yes. There are probably other parts of the world I would love to coach in as well. The southern hemisphere would be a big challenge for me. I’d love to go and coach in Super Rugby in some way shape or form or international rugby down in the southern hemisphere.

“So, you’d never say never but I think it’s not top of the list and certainly, I think Steve Borthwick will keep the job until 2027. I’m committed here (at Racing) until 2027 so let’s see.

“I don’t think you should never say never. I don’t think you should ever be so hurt or so damaged that you could never go back somewhere. If the political will is there and the time is right, I’d hate to be so hurt or angry about certain things that would stop me from doing certain things. I don’t want to be that kind of person.”