The 41-year-old, who was born in Australia and represented both the Wallabies and Ireland during his international career, was immediately charged with getting England firing again.

In his last role, as director of rugby at London Irish, the former Australia and Ireland international built up a reputation as an innovator and under him the Exiles' team was arguably the most exciting in the Guinness Premiership.

The task of the new management team - which also features defensive strategist Mike Ford and forwards coach John Wells - is now to help prepare the England Elite Squad for their autumn international challenges against the Pacific Islands (8 November), Australia (15 November), South Africa (22 November) and New Zealand (29 November).

"I want us to threaten the defensive line from every position," Smith told the rfu.com podcast. 

"Players want to play an exciting and expansive brand of rugby and they want to win. I believe we can do both those things and that’s the sort of game I’m interested in coaching."

And the former Australia and Ireland fly half promised, "Things won’t happen overnight but they certainly will happen. By the end of the November Investec Challenge series there will be an England style of game in place that players will have to fit in to. Hopefully that’s an expansive, attacking approach that’s also very effective."

Smith wasted no time getting stuck in, spending his first day at Twickenham analysing the impact that the Experimental Law Variations have had in the Southern Hemisphere.

"With the new ELVs there’s a lot happening at the moment. I spent my first day going through footage of the Tri-Nations and Currie Cup games looking at the way teams are deciding to attack and defend under these new laws," he explained.

"With defences now having to stand 5 metres back, clearly there’s a bigger opportunity to get ‘go forward’ from the scrum. That’s what the game is about - getting over gain line."