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Fin Smith is on his way to becoming a pilot England in Sunday’s fall opener vs Australia at the Allianz Stadium after making crucial progress in his battle with a calf problem.
Smith practiced in full with his teammates on Wednesday for the first time since suffering the injury Northampton duty against Leicester on October 24 and passed the session without any interruptions.
Unless his recovery stalls, England hope their first-choice scrum-half will be ready to take his place in the starting XV when head coach Steve Borthwick names his squad on Friday.
“Finn has been training and doing well, so we are cautiously optimistic that he is available for selection,” defensive coach Richard Wigglesworth said.
“We’ll have to see how the next 24 hours look like in terms of his reaction, but he did well in training.
“We train again on Friday, so obviously he has to train then, but before then we will know how he is. We are quite optimistic.”
Smith regained control of the number 10 jersey from George Ford over the final two rounds Six Nations and has started England’s last five Tests in the position.
The 24-year-old British and Irish Lion provides outstanding game management, defensive ferocity and a growing attacking threat playing straight to the line.
“As you would expect from someone of his age, ability and mindset, he is constantly improving,” Wigglesworth said.
“He’s in great form. He’s made a big difference for us in the last few Test matches.”
“He’s in a great place to play and you have to be half-half England because you’ve got George Ford and Marcus Smith there as well.”
Smith’s likely availability is a huge boost for England as they look to build on wins against Fiji and Argentina it saved their July tour.
“Finn looked good,” said number eight Ben Earl. “He’s a classy, classy player who’s been in incredible form for a couple of years now.
“He deserves to be given time to give himself the best chance to play. He looked very good in training and I’m looking forward to seeing him.”
British sprint star Amy Hunt, who became the first athlete to win four gold medals at the European Championships in August, was a visitor to the English camp on Wednesday.
“We’ve all seen Amy on TV, running a lot faster than anyone will be this weekend!” said Wigglesworth.
“She’s at dinner with a couple of the boys now, so it’ll be interesting to see what she takes from that and what our boys enjoy.”