There are not many England players currently on the circuit whose name and identity transcend the sport. Maro Itoje, perhaps – but, even then, the captain might not be considered a household name. Marcus Smith is another like Itoje, a player who is as near to appealing to observers outside the sport as any other.
When Smith burst onto the scene in 2017 – called up to the England squad for the first time by long-time admirer Eddie Jones as a precocious 18-year-old – it was a case of when not if the Harlequin would adorn England’s No 10 jersey. By the time of his much-awaited full Test debut, four years on, it felt as though Smith’s time had come on the Test stage.
The departure of Jones as England head coach, to be replaced by Steve Borthwick, did throw a spanner in the works. The presumption was that Borthwick plus Smith would equal disharmony – but the opposite was true. Borthwick dropped Owen Farrell for Smith in his first Six Nations, and, although the head coach opted to persevere with Farrell and George Ford at fly-half at the World Cup, that was to carry out a specific, bespoke game plan; one which ideally Borthwick would not have had, but one which was necessary at short notice for England to progress as far as they did. Ultimately, they were unlucky to not reach the final.
During that tournament, Smith, who already has 44 caps to his name, had to make do with appearances at full-back in the big matches. The move was met with suspicion at the time – Smith, after all, was the heir apparent to the fly-half jersey, the golden boy of English rugby – but has proved to be a canny ploy by England when dealing with injury in the back line. Smith has looked unquestionably dangerous at full-back on the counter-attack, with the only doubts surrounding his aerial abilities (his height, in essence).
Smith’s involvement in this year’s Six Nations came predominantly at full-back, with the 26-year-old forced to watch his younger namesake, Fin, take the fly-half reins in his stead. Full-back was where his country needed him and, occasionally, his club have, too. Harlequins have been tapping into Smith’s versatility, and, with the emergence of Fin coupled with Marcus’s X-factor, it was not long ago that I was backing the latter to become England’s ultimate hybrid player. Why couldn’t Marcus regularly wear the increasingly important No 22 or 23 jersey for England on a regular basis and cover fly-half, full-back or, even, scrum-half?
The issue for Harlequins – and for England, in a way – is that with all of this tinkering Smith has returned to the club circuit totally devoid of playmaking exposure. At no point against Leinster did Smith look as though he would be grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck. The zip and zeal did not look quite there; in truth, Smith looked a little rusty.
And one could ...
