England fly-half Fin Smith says an under-par autumn should trigger fundamental questions about the team’s direction.
The 24-year-old was asked by Rugby Union Weekly about the state of the team after a miserable Six Nations and a summer campaign that featured a 45-21 defeat by world champions South Africa, a 73-8 thrashing of Fiji and a narrow 31-24 win over Argentina.
“It is so hard to say,” replied Smith.
“I am not going to sit here and say ‘we are building’ because that is what you will get every time.
“We will honestly find out in the autumn. If we have a pretty ropey autumn, on the back of building some momentum over the summer, I think we will need to have a pretty hard look at ourselves.”
England will play Australia, Japan and New Zealand on successive weekends in November, before a play-off against a southern hemisphere opponent in the finale of the new Nations Championship competition.
“Playing New Zealand at Allianz Stadium will be a great way to test ourselves,” said Smith.
“I think on our day, in front of a big crowd and when we are up for it, we can beat anyone. The last time New Zealand came we had a great result.”
England beat the All Blacks 33-19 last November in arguably the high point of head coach Steve Borthwick’s near four-year spell in charge.
However the team’s form has tailed off in 2026, with only three wins in eight Tests. A chastening 42-21 defeat at home by Ireland and a first-ever loss to Italy were among the low points.
Smith, who has started the past five Tests to establish himself as first-choice stand-off ahead of George Ford and Marcus Smith, says he is getting aligned with the demands of Test rugby and Borthwick’s gameplan.
“I have been given a fair bit of licence to put my footprint on the attack and lead a lot of meetings about how I want us to play,” he said.
“England are probably set up in a slightly different way. Northampton would probably be slightly more attacking and set up with maybe a slightly lighter-weight forward pack that might be suited to the style of play there.
“England is a little bit more set-piece and arm wrestle and tactical, so I have to adapt my game to suit that as well.
“But most of the time I am just going out there to just play what I see.”