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Why Marler warmed to 'jumped-up, entitled, little private school kid'

(Photo by Hans van der Valk/BSR Agency/Getty Images)

England prop Joe Marler has revealed his first impression of club and country colleague Marcus Smith – and it wasn’t very flattering. The Harlequins teammates have been named in Steve Borthwick’s squad for Sunday’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final versus Fiji in Marseille, with Marler as the sub loosehead and Smith as the starting No15.

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They are now good mates and Marler is tipping Smith to star in the Stade Velodrome knockout stage game, but their bond only grew over time after a shaky start. “He’s a big-game player. I’m really happy for him to get his opportunity to start a game in the World Cup.

“He has shown it off the bench in the moments in the games where we have needed it and I hope that he can do that from the start.

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“He is obsessed with wanting to be the best. His drive to want to be the best every single day is infectious around the group. In a similar way to Owen (Farrell), both their drives to be the best raises the standards of the group otherwise you get left behind – and I have been left behind many a time.”

That threatened to happen when Marler had an awkward start way back to his relationship with Smith at Harlequins. He was quickly won around, though.

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“At the club, he was confident early on, even to the point where I turn around and say, ‘I’m going to have to say something to this guy, he’s gobbing off at me’. I’ve been at the club for 10 years and he’s gobbing off at me.

“For me, personally it took a little while. I was like, ‘He’s a jumped-up, entitled little private school kid’.

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“And then you realise how good he is at rugby and why he’s doing what he’s doing and I was like ‘I’m going to listen to him more because he’s going to get us into position to win more rugby games because he knows what he’s talking about’.

“That blew me away when he was younger and he has managed to carry that on throughout his career so far. He has done it consistently at club level, it’s about now doing it consistently at international level, and what better place to do that than starting in a quarter-final.”

Sunday’s appearance in the No15 England shirt is just the second time that out-half Smith has been named to start in that role.

He featured off the bench just seven weeks ago when Fiji won at Twickenham, scored one second-half try and creating another, but it wasn’t enough and Marler isn’t taking anything for granted about this World Cup rematch.

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It’s going to be very difficult. They [Fiji] are a world-class outfit and they have already done a job on us in the summer in the pre-tournament warm-up game, and they are full of confidence.

“We have heard it all week how confident they are. It will be a really intense game,” suggested Marler, who is delighted to be back involved with England after a Test rugby break.

“When it gets to knockout time and it’s do or die there’s a bit more of a spike in training, there’s a bit more of a fear factor.

“Not for everyone, I know there are some who don’t like that fear-factor point, they find it too negative so they tend to focus on the positive of it all. But I like the fear of that if we don’t get it right we’re gone. That motivates me personally.

“When you are not here or not involved for whatever reason, you miss it and you crave to be back involved. Previously I think I have taken it for granted.

“Knowing that this is the last time I’ll get an opportunity to play in a World Cup quarter-final, to pull on that shirt, is a special feeling. I’m very proud and honoured and privileged to be able to have that chance.

“The likes of Ben Youngs, Courtney Lawes, Danny Care, Dan Cole, guys that we’ve been together since we were 16 or 17, we have got close bonds to motivate us and drive us on to make this last memory special.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
How the four-team format will help the Wallabies defeat the Lions

Wow, the case of Australian Rugby. It doesn't really need or want divisive articles like this, that's for sure!

At the same time, according to Melbourne-based Kiwi journalist Geoff Parkes writing on The Roar: “At a pre-season Rebels sponsor evening on November 24 last year, Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh told the local audience how Victoria was ‘leading the way’ with regard to connecting the amateur and professional game, using the catch-cry, One team from club to country. Yet within a fortnight, Rugby Australia had switched paths. As their actions would increasingly show, they had determined that the Rebels were no longer ‘family’.”

Lets just start with the elephant in the room. Everybody had the same problem with that neighbour, Australia were still the second best rugby nation in the world for large periods of the 'present' window. There was still the other 2/3s of the competition to win against.

The outcome of its first attempt to axe the Force, by force, was disastrous.

The outcome was great. As has been shown recently (with money not becoming a problem), the Force just want to be a rep team. They belong in a competition like the Bunnings NPC, not an elite competition like Super Rugby. Their hearts not in it. The game would have been so much better off if Twiggy had been able to setup rapid rugby.


As it was COVID delivered the Force a great opportunity to step up to the SR plate by bringing in a heavy overseas contingent, both players wanting to return home, and in the case of Argentinians, wanting to remain in SR. Their hands remained in their pockets. That was a golden opportunity to snap up some of the Rugby Championships best talent and keep a heavy Argentinian flavour to the competition, and who knows, perhaps even pathing the way for an easy return of jaguares a couple of years after COVID. Perhaps even by hosting a lot of games in the same region!

Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh told the local audience how Victoria was ‘leading the way’ with regard to connecting the amateur and professional game, using the catch-cry, One team from club to country. Yet within a fortnight, Rugby Australia had switched paths.

These are some pretty poor quality views to share. The financial state of Rebels is no reason not to acknowledge success. This just sounds like a bitter local, or someone making up stories along the same lines of the clubs own skullduggery.

It is certain there will be far more chance of sustaining a winning Wallaby culture with more intense competition for squad places at Super Rugby level.

The two biggest beneficiaries from the demise of the Rebels will be the traditional twin powerhouses of Queensland and New South Wales, and they have made strides in recruitment where it really matters, in the front five forwards.

From an outsiders view it seems to be helping the English game nicely, and is just the right timing for a similar short term boost to the Aus game. There is a surprising, and shocking, amount of depth needed for such a short competition.


It's good to see a way forward. The Australian story is definitely a case of missed opportunities, and it is that which needs to be told as theres far too much doom and gloom coming from their fans as it is.

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