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'What we are seeing from him is more like when he played at Brighton College'

(Photo by Steve Bardens/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Eddie Jones has given his verdict on the current form of rejuvenated Harlequins out-half Marcus Smith ahead of the June 10 England squad announcement for the summer series which consists of matches against Scotland A, the USA and Canada. The uncapped 22-year-old has been blazing a trail in recent months in the Gallagher Premiership since signing a contract extension and committing his future to title-chasing Quins.

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With England skipper Owen Farrell on tour with the Lions and the potential for the seasons George Ford to take a summer backseat, there is optimism that Jones might turn to Smith two years after he last appeared in an England shirt when they played the Barbarians at Twickenham in the June 2019 uncapped exhibition.

Jones held a media session this week ahead of the squad announcement, his first dealings with the press since fulfilling his post-game duties following the March 20 Guinness Six Nations loss to Ireland in Dublin.

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The England coach refused to indulge speculation that Smith will be chosen, stating: “We’ll see. That is all to be answered next week.” However, he said more than enough to add fuel to the fire that the Harlequins No10 is on track to potentially earn that elusive debut Test cap.

“He has really benefited from increased ruck speed,” said Jones, explaining what he likes about what Smith has lately been producing for his club.

“What we are seeing from him is more like when he played at Brighton College. I remember watching him in 2015 at Brighton College where when there was something on he took it and maybe for a period of time he was more likely to be a pattern player. He is getting a nice balance in his game between understanding the responsibilities of getting the team organised but then playing what is in front of him and his development is really positive.”

With their place in the playoffs secured, Harlequins are expecting Smith to hear good news next week. Assistant coach Nick Evans, the ex-All Blacks out-half, has been enthused by the youngster’s progress in recent months. “He has performed well enough to get an opportunity on the tour,” reckoned Evans at last week’s club media briefing. “It will depend on how Eddie feels and what make-up of the team he wants to go for, but Marcus has done unbelievably well in putting his hand up and foot in the door.

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“One of the main things he has concentrated on is playing well for Quins. In the past, even he would admit he has looked forward too much on how to get into England whereas this year he has done amazingly well to focus on Quins and make sure his performances, skillset and tactical nous has been right for us. He has done a fantastic job, put his foot in the door, so we will have to wait and see now.”

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Flankly 52 minutes ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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