England vs Fiji: Finn Smith starts at 10 with Maro Itoje on the bench

England assistant coach Kevin Sinfield admitted frustration was inevitable among his three players.

“Don’t do it,” he told Rugby Union Weekly when asked how he managed to keep them all happy.

“But that’s how it should be. At this level, there’s always someone who’s a little disgruntled, maybe a little frustrated.

“They’re all impatient because they all want to play now, they want the shirt now, but understanding that is how different it is to their clubs – and their selflessness and putting the team first – is really important.

“Of course it takes some management, but they are all good people and understand the value of the team and that sometimes they will receive bad news and they will have to deal with it like everyone else.

“We’ve seen other countries able to interchange who starts at 10 and they’ve done that very well. The quality of our 10s means we’re able to do the same.”

Finn Smith, the youngest of the three fly-half options at 23, oversaw England’s successful end to last year’s Six Nations after earning his Test debut following the opening round defeat to Ireland.

With him on 10, England won their remaining four matches to finish second in the table, their highest position since lifting the title in the Covid-19 affected 2020 tournament.

However, Smith admitted he was disappointed with his form on the Lions’ subsequent tour, as he was unable to mount a serious challenge to Scotland’s Finn Russell in the 10th Test.

Sale prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour has been named to the bench with British and Irish Lion Will Stewart left out of the squad, while Bath’s Henry Arundel, whose last England appearance before moving to Racing 92 was in the 2023 Rugby World Cup, is the only backline cover among the substitutes.

England have won eight of their nine meetings with Fiji, most recently a 30-24 win in the quarter-finals of the French 2023 Championship.

But two months ago, Fiji pulled off a shock 30-22 win at Twickenham.