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#Post#: 65736--------------------------------------------------
The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
DIR By: Quintron
Date: May 11, 2021, 2:32 am
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HTML https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2021/05/11/future-english-rugby-name-marcus-smith/
#Post#: 65743--------------------------------------------------
Re: The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
DIR By: RodneyRegis
Date: May 11, 2021, 3:15 am
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Nope. Can't be certain he'd make the step up.
#Post#: 65744--------------------------------------------------
Re: The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
DIR By: RodneyRegis
Date: May 11, 2021, 3:15 am
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Any chance of a copy/paste?
#Post#: 65748--------------------------------------------------
Re: The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
DIR By: WellingQuin
Date: May 11, 2021, 3:26 am
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The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
Mentor, coach and former Harlequins team-mate Nick Evans thinks
the fly-half could not have done anything more to catch Eddie
Jones' eye
By
Ben Coles,
RUGBY REPORTER
11 May 2021 • 7:03am
Marcus Smith was playing well enough this season for Harlequins
that his long-awaited first Test cap for England already felt
like a certainty this summer. That was before Smith, still just
22, produced remarkable match-winning tries for Harlequins in
consecutive matches against London Irish and Wasps.
Eddie Jones was sitting in the stands on Sunday at The Stoop and
if he didn't come away bowled over by Smith's 28-point haul for
Harlequins - equalling a club record for points scored in a
match, tied with Paul Burke and Nick Evans according to leading
rugby statistician Stuart Farmer - then perhaps the England head
coach will never be enamoured enough with Smith to select him
ahead of George Ford or Owen Farrell.
Even when the overwhelming amount of evidence this season
suggests that Smith's time with England has arrived, delivering
on the promise that Jones first spotted when Smith was still a
schoolboy in Brighton.
Speaking of Evans - now Harlequins' attack/backs coach and a
mentor to Smith initially as a team-mate and now on the training
field - the former All Black admits that watching Smith carve
through London Irish's defence to snatch a victory two weeks ago
in Brentford, followed by Smith combining with James Lang and
Joe Marchant to crack Wasps open in the final minute on Sunday,
hasn't been good for his heart rate.
"It's a hard gig being a coach, I'll tell you what," Evans
laughs, before explaining to Telegraph Sport that while Smith's
solo try against Irish was "a bit of magic", the winning score
against Wasps was another sign of Smith's ongoing development.
"This time [against Wasps], it's just being in the right place.
People probably undersell that ability. We talk with him about
the ability to get two touches within a phase. I was always
taught that and I try to teach him as well - if you can
influence the play and get a second touch, more often than not
you’re going to make a line break or a positive action. For him
to be there on the back of Lang and Marchant on the left there,
he was in the exactly right position that he needed to be to get
us the victory."
There's no doubt that Smith is already an accomplished
goal-kicker, with a success percentage in the high 80s this
season and having already scored 244 points in the Premiership,
while defensively he is no weak link. But it's in attack where
Smith has made a mockery of defences and established himself as
one of the Premiership's leading players this season, with his
jet-black hair garnering cult status.
No player boasts a better tackle evasion success percentage than
Smith with 52.5 - a statistic combining defenders beaten with
the number of tackles a player has faced and how often they've
been stopped - with Smith's burst of pace and sharp footwork a
persistent issue for the Premiership's best defences.
Only his similarly in-form half-back partner Danny Care has
produced more try assists than Smith's nine, while among
fly-halves he is almost peerless, making more metres, clean
breaks and with a higher average gain per carry than any other
No10 in the league. Only Wasps' Jacob Umaga, narrowly, has
beaten more defenders than Smith's 32.
"The natural talent is undeniable," Evans admits, before
recalling an interview given by All Blacks No10 Richie Mo'unga
that echoed Evans' approach with Smith, with Evans billing the
Harlequin as a triple threat given his kicking, running and
passing game.
"Mo'unga gave a really good interview about being allowed to
play that instinctive style of footy within the structure that
the All Blacks have. And that resonated with me regarding
Marcus," explains Evans.
"I can’t put Marcus in a box. You are not going to get the best
out of him if you do that. What Marcus does is he understands
the system and how we want to play, the structures that we have,
our kicking and set-piece plans, the defence. Within that, we
try to create scenarios where he can show everyone what he can
do.
"I remember when I first came to Harlequins back in 2008, that
player was Danny [Care] - how can we allow Danny to be this
unbelievably magical, special player, which he still is now.
Make sure it’s organised around him and let him be who he is.
It’s the same with Marcus."
Smith is still young but has now made more than 100 Harlequins
appearances and as Evans notes, "he’s probably ahead of rugby
years in terms of his development. He certainly doesn’t act and
speak and present like a 22 year-old".
The core work going on behind the scenes at Harlequins with
Smith is focused on the management side of his game -
play-calling, utilising the energy of the forwards, reacting to
the opposition’s defence, influencing Quins' structure within
the game. "It’s the subtle stuff, but arguably the most
important for him to go that next level up," adds Evans.
Regarding that next level, England's summer schedule was
confirmed on Monday, facing the USA and Canada in July at
Twickenham.
"I can’t see what more he can do to put his hand up," says
Evans. "He accepted the challenge of not being selected [by
England], knuckled down and focused on what he has needed to do
to make Harlequins better as a team and the areas he needs to
improve.
"The performances speak for themselves. We know Test rugby is a
different beast, but he’s certainly putting his foot in the
door. I definitely hope and would expect him to be in with a
really big shout of being involved in the end-of-season Tests."
Evans, understandably, is being cautious. Something will have
gone drastically wrong if Smith is not running the show for
England this summer.
#Post#: 65749--------------------------------------------------
Re: The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
DIR By: Quins_on_Toast
Date: May 11, 2021, 4:03 am
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--- Quote from: RodneyRegis link ---
>
> Nope. Can't be certain he'd make the step up.
>
--- End Quote ---
Can we ever be certain about anyone making that step up? For a
young lad who takes things in his stride and is playing with
confidence and swagger, now is as good a time as any in my book.
#Post#: 65751--------------------------------------------------
Re: The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: May 11, 2021, 4:07 am
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Rodders is being facetious!
I wonder, do fans of any other national side fear for incredibly
talented young players the way England fans do? The fear that
the system they'll be brought into will ruin them or restrict
them so much that they won't be able to explore their talent?
I cannot think of another team in world rugby where you can
easily say "<player> is a real talent, but he's not suited to
how <international team> plays and could well be damaged by the
experience".
#Post#: 65753--------------------------------------------------
Re: The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
DIR By: A222Quin
Date: May 11, 2021, 4:27 am
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--- Quote from: JammyGit link ---
>
> Rodders is being facetious!
>
> I wonder, do fans of any other national side fear for
incredibly talented young players the way England fans do? The
fear that the system they'll be brought into will ruin them or
restrict them so much that they won't be able to explore their
talent?
>
> I cannot think of another team in world rugby where you can
easily say "<player> is a real talent, but he's not suited to
how <international team> plays and could well be damaged by the
experience".
>
--- End Quote ---
Probably not. Especially the last year or so.
It's not just the international system either, the English rugby
press have their hobby horse players that they'll bang on about
to the nth degree too, quietly denigrating the player that
stands in the way of the chosen one playing in that position.
#Post#: 65755--------------------------------------------------
Re: The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
DIR By: RodneyRegis
Date: May 11, 2021, 4:33 am
---------------------------------------------------------
"We talk with him about the ability to get two touches within a
phase."
--- Quote from: Quins_on_Toast link ---
>
> Can we ever be certain about anyone making that step up? For a
young lad who takes things in his stride and is playing with
confidence and swagger, now is as good a time as any in my book.
>
--- End Quote ---
I'd say 18 months ago would have been better. But I was being
sarcastic.
I'd go so far as to say that anyone looking at what Quins have
achieved since Gustard went ought to be applying that to Eddie.
It's the same game, this idea that international rugby is a
different sport is mental.
#Post#: 65756--------------------------------------------------
Re: The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
DIR By: flapjack
Date: May 11, 2021, 4:37 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: JammyGit link ---
>
> Rodders is being facetious!
>
> I wonder, do fans of any other national side fear for
incredibly talented young players the way England fans do? The
fear that the system they'll be brought into will ruin them or
restrict them so much that they won't be able to explore their
talent?
>
> I cannot think of another team in world rugby where you can
easily say "<player> is a real talent, but he's not suited to
how <international team> plays and could well be damaged by the
experience".
>
--- End Quote ---
Agreed, Other teams just get their best talent on the field.
English rugby is built on tradition and a don't rock the boat
mentality.
This is made worse by Eddies selection policy, apart from the
world cup I really haven't enjoyed being a England fan for years
now.
I'm sure I am not alone in the opinion that I would rather of
had a 6 nations of testing new talent not worrying about where
we place. (Like Wales did with the mickey mouse cup)
Hindsight is 20/20 but we would be in a better place for it now.
#Post#: 65759--------------------------------------------------
Re: The future of English rugby is here - and his name is Marcus
Smith
DIR By: Wirralquin
Date: May 11, 2021, 4:47 am
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Couldn’t care less if smith doesn’t get selected for England .
As a Scotsman I would hate it if he was selected . Much prefer
predictable boring Farrell
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