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Marcus Smith handed start at No 15 amid spate of Harlequins injuries
By Josh Raisey
England fly-half Marcus Smtih will start at full-back for Harlequins on Friday night against Gallagher Premiership champions Northampton Saints.
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With a six-day turnaround from their victory over Newcastle Falcons in round two of the Premierhship, head coach Danny Wilson has made plenty of changes to his starting XV although some alterations were forced as a result of injuries
Both winger Cassius Cleaves and full-back Leigh Halfpenny picked up hamstring and shoulder injuries, respectively, in the match and have been ruled out of the visit to Franklin’s Gardens. With Cadan Murley and Tyrone Green already injured going into the season, as well as centre Luke Northmore leaving the field against the Falcons, Quins have been forced into a re-jig.
The No 15 shirt is not completely foreign to Smith as England head coach Steve Borthwick experimented with the move at last year’s World Cup, and Quins fleetingly followed suit last season, but he is far more comfortable at fly-half, and put in an impressive display in his first match of the season against Newcastle.
Wilson was reluctant to say whether he was going to switch Smith’s position earlier in the week, but said that he is a “threat” wherever he plays.
“Certainly we feel we’ve got some strong options in the back three regardless of injuries,” Wilson said. “We’ve got Cadan Murley, Tyrone Green, a question mark over Leigh, Cassius now, a number of injuries there, but we’ve also got some quality rugby players who can go into the squad and do a job.
“First of all, as we know, [Marcus] is an extremely exciting presence with ball in hand. Whatever position he’s in, he’s exciting, he’s a threat, and his kicking game is well-educated and I think his game management has improved dramatically.
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“Marcus had his first pre-season friendly at the weekend – it was obviously more than that, he was straight into a league match against Newcastle at home – but that’s his first game since he took off his England jersey. He will be pleased to get that under his belt and now move forward into the next games.”
Harlequins XV
1. Fin Baxter (53)
2. Jack Walker (65)
3. Titi Lamositele (2)
4. Irne Herbst (49)
5. Stephan Lewies (72 – Captain)
6. Jack Kenningham (51)
7. Will Evans (92)
8. Chandler Cunningham-South (18)
9. Danny Care (378)
10. Jarrod Evans (19)
11. Oscar Beard (57)
12. Lennox Anyanwu (24)
13. Will Joseph (13)
14. Nick David (51)
15. Marcus Smith (162)
Impact Players
16. Nathan Jibulu (15)
17. Jordan Els (35)
18. Simon Kerrod (105)
19. Dino Lamb (95)
20. James Chisholm (150)
21. Will Porter (24)
22. Bryn Bradley (9)
23. Cameron Anderson (7)
