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Harlequins' verdict on Evans coaching Smith-less England this week
Harlequins have had their say on the intriguing situation with England this week where club assistant Nick Evans is coaching attack to a 26-strong Test squad that doesn’t include Marcus Smith. Evans has worked with Smith for a number of years at Gallagher Premiership level and the pair were at the forefront of the swashbuckling Quins’ gallop to the title in 2021.
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That success was the catalyst for Smith to earn his debut England cap a week after the final and he was then called up to the Lions tour in South Africa, exposure backed up since then by Eddie Jones’ decision to mould his 2021/22 England team around the Harlequins No10.
With Jones ultimately dismissed as the England head coach in December 2022, incoming head coach Steve Borthwick decided to bring Evans in as attack and backs coach on an interim basis for the Guinness Six Nations and it was felt this appointment could ignite the struggling Smith/Owen Farrell 10/12 combination.
However, round one defeat to Scotland prompted a rethink from Borthwick which resulted in Farrell getting shifted to out-half and Smith benching for the following games versus Italy and Wales.
That latter outing consisted of just seconds for Smith, who only entered the fray in the 80th minute for the final play at the Principality Stadium, and the latest development has seen him released back to Harlequins so that he gets some Premiership game time before rejoining the England squad next Sunday ahead of their March 11 game versus France.
While it is logical for Smith to get some club game time having been a little-used England sub, the decision by Borthwick meant a training week call-up for George Ford and huge speculation has now ignited about whether Smith or Ford will bench for England in round four. In the meantime, Evans coached at Harlequins with Smith on Tuesday before joining Ford and co at England camp in Brighton for training on Wednesday and Thursday.
Asked what he made of the situation whereby Evans originally joined up with England in January with Smith as the No10 to now where the player isn’t involved this week at Test level, Harlequins boss Tabai Marson said: “When you frame it like that it is an interesting perspective.
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“Nick has gone in there as an assistant and is driving the attack that he drives and with regard to the selection, I’m not sure where that fits with Nick and the selection piece. I can’t comment on that but it’s positive for both of them because they are both comfortable with each other as coach and player. There is definitely trust and a relationship built there, so I am sure they are helping each other out as they go through.”
Evans, an ex-All Blacks out-half in his own playing days, now has three England matches under his belt as a temporary assistant to Borthwick. What has been his feedback to Matson at Harlequins from his time away so far?
“He has been brilliant. When he stepped back in we constantly talk about the experiences he has had, what he has learnt, what can he bring back because the context is different, what can you bring back, what can Quins do from this, what have you learnt from those other coaches because there are some phenomenal coaches and there is some brilliant stuff so we are really excited.
“The reason I seconded him to England was that we knew it was going to be an amazing experience that was going to benefit the club and him in the long run and that is happening.”
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Borthwick wouldn’t confirm if Evans will be back coaching at Harlequins for their Saturday match at Twickenham versus Exeter, claiming that it was a discussion that won’t happen until the England camp is over. What the England head coach did volunteer was that the Test team attack under Evans had shown some encouraging signs versus Wales.
“What we saw at the weekend, particularly in the first half – the game second half changed tactically to a different type of game – you saw the ability to move the ball, there was more ball movement within in what we were trying to do and as you are trying to develop some things aren’t going to go right.
“But if you look at Anthony Watson’s try it was a great demonstration of what we are trying to do, the pass being given by Alex (Dombrandt). To find space, to go through the defence and then move the ball to the edge was very good.
“And if you look at Ollie Lawrence’s try, there were 13 phases and it went to each edge of the pitch and 12 or 13 people at some point handled the ball within those phases, so you are seeing the ability to move the ball.
“Now we know we are a long way from where we need to get to and attack is always the element of the game that takes the greatest amount of time to develop – it always is… The attack is where you really need people to understand how each one plays and read off each other.
“That takes time but we have seen development in that area. There will be some errors as there were but what I am seeing and what I am backing the players to do is to try and do what we are asking them to do.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Hope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
1 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
9 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
39 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
9 Go to comments