'World-class 15' despite getting 'face smashed all over the place'

Rugby World Cup 2023 has been quite a transformative journey for Marcus Smith. The 24-year-old had been viewed by Eddie Jones as the No10 he needed to build the team around. Across 17 consecutive matches, from his July 2021 debut until the following year’s Autumn Nations Series, Smith was the Australian’s out-half starter 16 times. Then the brakes were applied.

It’s not that Steve Borthwick never fancied Smith as a 10. He did, starting him twice in that role in his maiden Guinness Six Nations in charge and he was even given that jersey for the Summer Nations Series loss away to Wales.

Behind the scenes, though, there were moves afoot to make Smith more selectable, plans that defence coach Kevin Sinfield first alluded to in the lead-up to last month’s World Cup opener versus Argentina in Marseille.

“You have all seen what a magician he is with the ball, can step with both feet, is quick, can beat players for fun, so why not try and give him a bit more time in a bit more space than what he is getting at 10 and try and get him a little bit wider?

“We have been working on it for some weeks now with him in training and he has been incredible out the backs. To have him in the team available, to have him as we have seen in the last few weeks the option of coming on at either 10 or 15 has been good for us.

“He embraced it straight away. It was a question that was posed to him. ‘Have you played 15?’ His first answer was, ‘No, but I would love to’.”

That verdict was delivered in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage before a ball was kicked at the tournament. Now, having since started twice in the jersey, scoring versus Chile and then following it up with a defiant quarter-final effort last Sunday against Fiji, what’s the Sinfield verdict six weeks later with England in Paris and preparing for a semi-final versus cup holders South Africa?

“We would all agree he is a world-class 10, but last weekend I felt he was a world-class 15 as well,” enthused the assistant coach. “You have got to remember this guy has played around 100, 120 minutes as a full-back in Test rugby so far.

“What he has done on the training field for us has been outstanding. You are blown away by what he does now that he is being given more time and space. If there was any doubt about how brave and courageous he is then you saw it with your own eyes. The bloke got his face smashed in and threw his body into tackles.

“The guys are in full admiration for him – he has just got his face smashed all over the place yet he wants the ball. He is just a brave guy. And not just because he is physically tough and brave because to be put on a world stage in a quarter-final and deliver what he delivered was an absolute credit to him. What a great kid.”

Last Sunday’s greatness came at a price, though, as Smith, who came through a first-half HIA followed a clash with the yellow-carded Vinaya Habosi, was one of a half-dozen players who only did modified training on Tuesday, the first time England went back training after their 30-24 win over the Fijians. Jonny May, Manu Tuilagi, Tom Curry, Courtney Lawes and Dan Cole also had their training restricted.

“Marcus is good,” insisted Sinfield. “He is one of those who have been modified so we’ll get a clearer read in the week, but fingers crossed he will be good to go. It’s normal. It’s the first day we have run since the game.

“Some of them are the best footballers, so it was best that they stayed out of the session at the start. Some are a bit older as well so we have to be a bit smarter to get them ready to train, but it’s normal for us.”

Sinfield started training on Tuesday with a brief kicking warm-up with Freddie Steward, the full-back Smith displaced in last weekend’s team. With South Africa possessing a more potent kicking game than the Fijians, there is a debate that Steward, the more experienced No15, should now be named as the semi-final starter when Borthwick unveils his pick on Thursday.

“I have worked with Fred for some time now and thankfully I have not had to have many of these conversations where I’m trying to pick him up,” Sinfield said. “Clearly he was disappointed, as anyone would be, missing out on a quarter-final, but he has responded as we would expect him to.

“He is a great lad, you know what he is about, He works incredibly hard at his game, he cares and he is an unbelievable full-back too. We are in a pretty fortunate position where we have three world-class 10s and two world-class full-backs.

“Our team has changed every game throughout the World Cup and Steve selects the team he thinks will give us the best chance of winning that game. Just because Fred wasn’t selected last week doesn’t mean he did anything wrong.

“He has actually done a lot of great things and a lot of things right, but Steve and the coaching team thought it was the right thing to go with Marcus against Fiji.”