Wales flyhalf Dan Biggar says he believes that England’s Marcus Smith has fallen behind Owen Farrell and George Ford in Steve Borthwick’s choice pecking order.

Wales proceed their coaching camp preparations in Switzerland forward of the Rugby World Cup in September. Warren Gatland’s facet are gearing as much as face England in two consecutive warm-up video games this August. The upcoming clashes current a possibility for each groups to fine-tune their methods and trim down their squads forward of the worldwide event.

Biggar’s feedback about Smith actually add intrigue to the video games, as he is aware of the younger Harlequins star is searching for to stake a declare for the beginning ten jersey in a extremely aggressive England squad. Biggar, nevertheless, believes that Borthwick will revert to some model of the tried and examined pairing of Farrell and Ford.

Writing in his Daily Mail column, Biggar states: “The beauty of these warm-up games is you never really know what to expect. We don’t know what England has been up to over the last four weeks. Maybe they’ll have a few surprises up their sleeve. It was a bit of a shock to see Sam Underhill get released because he’s as good as anyone on his day. They have so much talent.

“I suspect there will be a big Leicester-Saracens feel to their team, guys Steve Borthwick trust to play that territory game. Owen Farrell’s captain so he’ll be somewhere in the team but does George Ford come back in at No 10? Ford was extremely successful under Borthwick at Leicester and he won’t have forgotten that.

“Marcus Smith is a hell of a player but it looks to me like Farrell and Ford are ahead of him in Borthwick’s game plan.”

Both England and Wales go into the tournament under the radar, with little expectations around their fortunes after torrid Guinness Six Nations campaigns for both sides.

Wales are currently in the process of whittling down their current 48-man squad down to 33 for the World Cup, with their opening game against Fiji in Bordeaux on September 10.