Smith using Wilkinson as inspiration as he is handed England 10 shirt

The Saints star received the news from England boss Steve Borthwick on Monday morning, giving him time to prepare for Saturday's huge Guinness Six Nations game against France at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (kick-off 4.45pm).

Smith has seven England caps to his name, but all of those appearances have come from the bench.

This weekend, he will start for the first time, lining up at fly-half as Marcus Smith moves to full-back.

And Smith said: "I'm very excited. It's any young boy's dream to wear the 10 shirt for England.

"I grew up watching some of the greats: Jonny (Wilkinson), Faz (Owen Farrell), those guys - so to be told that I'm going to be wearing that shirt this weekend was pretty surreal and I'm raring to go."

The 22-year-old added: "I loved watching Jonny Wilkinson. A lot of five or six-year-olds grew up watching cartoons but I had Jonny's best moments on tape and I'd watch those back, which is a bit weird, but I loved him. I'm a massive fan of him, and his kicking and defensive bits were things I really looked up to."

England suffered a 27-22 defeat in their Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin last weekend, and they know they will have their work cut out against a strong French side.

"They've got some massive forwards and rapid backs so it's about having the balance of being physical enough but being aware they can move the ball at any time to some of their speedsters," Smith said.

"We'll be working really hard on it and fingers crossed it's all good."