Charlie Hodgson: What Marcus Smith needs to do to be the real deal 10

Many of his peers regarded Charlie Hodgson as the best passer of the ball they’d ever played with and a player whose game was based on making those around him look better.

That’s not to say Hodgson, for so long Jonny Wilkinson’s understudy, didn’t have his highlight reel moments and accolades as an individual. His 44 points on debut in the 134-0 win over Romania in 2001 is still the most points by an England player in a single match. And those lucky enough to be at Twickenham will never forget him wriggling through two tackles and stepping a defender in the 2004 match against the Springboks that he almost won by himself with a majestic display of fly-half play.

But for the most part, humble Hodgson was all about the team, not the razzle-dazzle moments that Marcus Smith loves to produce. Smith, who turns 26 in less than two weeks, has two more caps than the 38 Hodgson managed but there is still the nagging belief that the Harlequins man is learning on the job, at the highest level at least.

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“I really love the way that Marcus Smith plays the game. I think at the moment he plays the game as an unbelievable rugby player but I am not sure he plays the game as the tactical No.10/facilitator to make sure he gets the best out of everyone else,” Yorkshireman Hodgson said.

“It is a really difficult dynamic that I think he is stuck in at the moment. With some of his best performances, individually, he can often be the best player on the field. But, sometimes, you don’t necessarily want the 10 to be the best player on the field, you want to facilitate other people to be the best player on the field. That’s my way of looking at it. Maybe I am a little more pragmatic in the way the game should be played.”

Hodgson, a British and Irish Lion who won the Premiership with Sale and Saracens, would love to see Smith take a grip on proceedings and be England’s on-field general when he next plays at 10.

“It feels like with England we just continue to do the same thing over and over and over again hoping that it will come good, and that is not happening at the moment. It doesn’t really have anybody at the moment to say, ‘Right we need to stop what we’re doing and change right now, or there is going to have to be a change in tactics’,” he observed.

“I think that’s one of the big things that Marcus can learn – how can you shift tactics in the heat of the moment, when you are under a lot of pressure and things need to change. It’s not about taking away the things he is good at, it’s around game management.

“Of course, that comes with experience and development. I am not saying this out of malice or because I don’t think he is good enough, because I do think he is good enough. But I think that is one element of his game that needs to be worked on.”

If the team announcement predictions are correct, England will opt for the other Smith –Fin Smith – at 10 and put Marcus Smith in the backfield at full-back.

Hodgson said: “You look at Fin Smith, he perhaps doesn’t bring those moments of magic, but at the same time, he is an unbelievable facilitator of the people around him. Is that a big gamble to shift like that? I think it would be to do it straight away, but you also have to give him a chance at some point.”

Now a trusted coach and mentor, Hodgson’s Rugby Buddy company helps young and aspirational professional players overcome setbacks early on in their careers.

The 44-year-old from Halifax is not one for firing off cheap sound bites, his opinion is a very considered one, and as someone who enjoyed such a good and lengthy career at the top, England would do well to listen to his advice as closely as his clients.

And he feels that England’s leadership group needs to take ownership as well as Smith when it becomes evident that the game plan isn’t working.

“As I said, we’re still trying to do the same things over and over again and hoping we’re going to get a different result. But it just doesn’t seem to happen so that, for me, I am kind of like going, ‘Who is in charge of that?’ Certainly the leaders on the field, the captain being one, the No.8 perhaps, the hooker, and your nine and 10. Maybe this isn’t just focused on Marcus but perhaps the leadership group as a whole.

“When you are chasing the game and you are still box kicking and the ball goes straight up in the air, for me, there has to be a change in mindset very quickly – we’re chasing this game, we’ve got to do something about it, we can’t just keep doing the same thing over and over again.

“I appreciate there is a way to play games. If you look at the way Ireland played, they very rarely box-kicked (just six times compared to England’s 16), they went the other way – they went through 10 and sent high crossfield kicks onto the openside wing which is hugely exposing for those openside wingers; it’s a really difficult thing to deal with. And, of course, Ireland got on top in that sense, certainly in the back end when (Jack) Crowley came on.

“I know this as a player, it is very easy to sit on the sideline watching it thinking what could and should be done, and I know how difficult it is to change things in the moment as well, especially when you are so used to playing one way and you have players from different clubs who are used to doing different things and when the pressure is on people often revert to type.

“I don’t want to be one of those ex-players who say, ‘They should have done this, they should have done that’. I say everything with a caveat of, I get it, I understand it, but I would love to see Marcus being more of a general around the field rather than just looking for magic himself.”