Marcus Smith believes he can add "something slightly different" to England's play in a new full-back role.

"Hopefully I can add something slightly different from the back in my own personal way," he told Rugby Union Daily.

"It has added a string to my game and I am excited to hopefully show that."

Smith revealed his positional switch was first floated as a possibility on a pre-tournament training camp in July.

"I think it was in Verona and [defence coach] Kevin Sinfield came up to me and asked if I had ever thought about playing 15," said Smith.

"We had a little chat about it and I said I was keen and would give it a go. I have thoroughly enjoyed it, it has opened my eyes to what the outside backs see.

"I am trying to be that guy from the back and slightly wider, trying to organise the forwards in different positions to allow me to get out the back or get the ball in positions where I feel dangerous or threatening and I can put our wings, who are brilliant with the ball in hand, in space."

Smith is filling in for Freddie Steward in a much-changed England side and he admits that, at 5ft 9in tall, he could be more vulnerable under the high ball than his 6ft 5in team-mate.

"Freddie is brilliant to learn off," Smith said.

"He is world class with his high-ball work and to have him on my doorstep to ask questions to and seek opinions on covering the backfield, which he does so brilliantly, is massive for me.

"Potentially [it could be harder to collect high balls], but there are a lot of full-backs who are quite short as well around the world.

"Obviously in 2003 England had Jason Robinson, who was a livewire from the back, and [New Zealand's] Richie Mo'unga and Beauden Barrett have played there a bit and they are not huge."

With captain Owen Farrell back from suspension and installed at fly-half and George Ford, who excelled at 10 in the team's Pool D wins over Argentina and Japan, on the bench, England could field all three playmakers on the pitch at some point against Chile.

Smith believes the combination could be key to unlocking the potential of an exciting backline that features Ollie Lawrence at centre and Max Malins and Henry Arundell on the wing.

"We have practised it a few times with all three of us on the pitch," he said.

"It is brilliant to have three different sets of eyes out there, scanning and sharing information and sharing the ball around.

"We all have our different ways of seeing the game, and our different skills we want to showcase and bring to the party, and hopefully we can marry that all up this Saturday to enable our wingers to score loads of tries."

After the first two rounds of matches, Ford and England scrum-half Alex Mitchell had kicked the ball in open play more than any other players at the Rugby World Cup, 37 and 25 times respectively.

England's tactics have not won over all their fans, with a section expressing their dissatisfaction from the stands in Sunday's win over the Brave Blossoms in Nice.

But Smith asked supporters to have faith in a strategy that has delivered two wins from two games so far in the campaign.

"We want to dominate territory and field position and sometimes when defences are so strong and they put a lot of numbers in the front line, it exposes some space in the backfield," he explained.

"In order to get a better opportunity in the next moment, you have to roll the ball in behind.

"A lot of thinking goes into it; we are not just kicking it away for the sake of it.

"There is always a plan behind what we are trying to do. Trust us, believe in us that we want to win and want to do you guys proud. That is always at the forefront of our mind."