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Harlequins name Marcus Smith to start after his England release
By Liam Heagney
Marcus Smith has been named to start by Harlequins on Saturday after he was dropped from this week’s England training squad by Steve Borthwick. The out-half had lost his Test place at No10 in recent weeks, benching for Owen Farrell rather than starting with him in a 10/12 combination.
Borthwick abandoned that partnership inherited from Eddie Jones after the opening round loss to Scotland and Smith’s game time since then as a replacement has been minimal. For instance, he was only introduced as an 80th-minute replacement in last Saturday’s win over Wales, coming on for the round three game’s final play.
That restricted exposure resulted in Borthwick taking the decision to send Smith back to Harlequins to play in their Big Game promotion versus Exeter and call up George Ford instead for the two-and-a-half-day England camp in Brighton.
While Borthwick stressed that Smith would be named on Sunday in the England squad that will prepare for the upcoming March 11 Six Nations game at home to France, the player’s exclusion from the Brighton training camp ignited speculation that he is poised to lose his place to Ford in the Test match 23.
That selection remains to be seen and, in the meantime, Smith has been given an opportunity by Harlequins to strut his stuff at Twickenham as their No10 when they take on the Chiefs. He is included in an XV that contains Joe Marchant and Cadan Murley, the pair who were also released by England to get some Premiership exposure.
A Harlequins statement also noted a milestone appearance for veteran Danny Care. “Quins’ trio of returning England players all step into the starting XV this week, with Marcus Smith, Joe Marchant and Cadan Murley, with 374 club appearances between them, bolstering the backline.
"With regards to record-setting, having recently broken the Harlequins appearance record, Danny Care will go into second place in the all-time Premiership Rugby appearance record when he runs out onto the pitch on Saturday, surpassing current England head coach Steve Borthwick on 265 league appearances. Care will be second only to current Leicester Tigers interim head coach Richard Wigglesworth on 322 Premiership appearances.
Harlequins boss Tabai Matson said: “Big Game is such an amazing event. Last year being involved in my first Big Game made me realise that it really is spectacular. I know it has moved date but we are hoping for nearly 60,000 people at Twickenham, so it’s a really special event. The players are buzzing and that has changed the energy of the week.
“In Exeter, you couldn’t have picked a better team to play in front of so many people. It was only a couple of years ago we played them in a final, so for a number of reasons it’s a really good week for us and there is some really good energy amongst the group leading into it.”
Harlequins (vs Exeter, Saturday - 5.15)
1. Joe Marler (260)
2. George Head (15)
3. Wilco Louw (61)
4. Dino Lamb (76)
5. Stephan Lewies (56) - Captain
6. Jack Kenningham (35)
7. James Chisholm (128)
8. Tom Lawday (72)
9. Danny Care (352)
10. Marcus Smith (134)
11. Josh Bassett (11)
12. Andre Esterhuizen (63)
13. Joe Marchant (147)
14. Cadan Murley (93)
15. Nick David (26)
Replacements:
16. Sam Riley (23)
17. Fin Baxter (19)
18. Simon Kerrod (92)
19. Irne Herbst (17)
20. Will Evans (58)
21. Luke Wallace (193)
22. Scott Steele (28)
23. Luke Northmore (53)
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Latest Comments
I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
Go to commentsWhatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.
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