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'It's the right time': Ex-England skipper makes Marcus Smith plea
Ex-England skipper Chris Robshaw believes next November’s Twickenham matches versus the world champion Springboks and the resurgent Wallabies is the right time to expose Marcus Smith and see if he does really have what it takes to own the No10 shirt at Test level. The 22-year-old stepped on the career accelerator in recent months, guiding Harlequins to Premiership glory before making an England Test debut and then touring with the Lions.
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However, those England appearances came against the USA and Canada and Robshaw, the 2015 World Cup captain and the veteran 66 Test caps, has told RugbyPass that this emergence now needs to be backed up by inclusion for the main matches that Eddie Jones’ team will play this November.
England will play Tonga, Australia and South Africa at Twickenham on successive Saturdays, starting on November 6, and the first steps towards those games will be taken next Tuesday when Jones announces his squad for a mini training camp that will commence on September 26.
It’s an announcement with a level of intrigue. England front-line players endured a miserable fifth-place Six Nations finish in March and with some touring with the Lions in July and others rested, Jones blooded 16 new caps – including Smith – during the two-game summer series. The question now is how many of those newcomers did enough to merit a recall with everyone available for selection just two years out from the start of the 2023 World Cup in France.
Robshaw knows some changing of the guard will happen in the run-up to the finals. He was a victim in the previous World Cup cycle, playing his last Test in 2018 and then losing out to younger bucks in the guise of Tom Curry and Sam Underhill. What direction Jones will now go in terms of mixing his old guard with his newcomers will be closely watched.
"With those two situations, I was staring down the barrel of not being able to play pro rugby again"
– From club redundancy and a stroke to playing for England is the remarkable backstory of RAF recruit @JoshJMcNally who tells @heagneyl ??? all about it ?https://t.co/LT6213Y87y
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 12, 2021
“I have been in that boat,” said Robshaw to RugbyPass. “Eddie doesn’t really bow to the pressure but there is a lot of talk about getting players in and changing players. I don’t think there will be any massive surprises but there will definitely be some fresh faces. Whether it’s a guy like a Max Malins who has played a couple of times. Does he get a bit more of a run because he has been superb? Him going back to Saracens now it will be interesting to see how he develops because the free-flowing, running rugby at Bristol suited him down to the ground. It might give him a different dimension.
“There is also the likes of Marcus Smith, maybe Alex Dombrandt, Ben Earl, unfortunately no Jack Willis for a while – yeah, I definitely think there will be changes. In terms of what positions I am not sure. Will they be just for the Tonga game or will he trust them to go against the world champions and Australia who are resurgent about where they are at their level? It is one thing playing American and Canada in a summer tour, another to play the most ferocious team in world rugby.”
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The name of Smith and how he progresses with Jones’ England is sure to garner the most attention, though, given the swashbuckling way he lit up the rugby world on successive Saturdays during June and July. Is he the England long-term No10? “Until he gets the opportunity we will never know,” said Robshaw about a position where George Ford has been Jones’ regular pick except when he moves skipper Owen Farrell in from inside centre.
“I used to have this conversation with Dean Richards back in the day (at Harlequins). I would have played but in the big games, he would have always have played the senior guys. He was like, ‘We’re going for experience this week’ and I’d be like, ‘Well, how do I get that experience if I never play?’ It was always quite a tough one.
“Kevin Sinfield, I touch base with him. He has gone to Leicester now so it will be interesting to see how he develops there. He is a great, great man with a great mentality and one of his big sayings was, ‘Don’t dip your toe in, jump in fully, jump in with both hands. Yes, you might get it wrong every now and then but I guarantee you if you prepare well, if you are mentally in the right place, you will come out on top’. Guys like Marcus and numerous others, I think it is the right time for them.”
- BT Sport is the home of Gallagher Premiership Rugby. Watch Newcastle Falcons v Harlequins live on BT Sport 1 from 2pm on Sunday, September 19. New Hope. Be part of it all. BT Sport bt.com/sport
"They actually asked me that in my second interview"
– Tabai Matson was put on the spot by Harlequins in a five-round interview process, the London club wanting to know what he made of them when head coach at Bath#PremRugby #Harlequins #NEWvHARhttps://t.co/DaqgW2fSaB
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 15, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
No question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
95 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
95 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
95 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
95 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
95 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
95 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
95 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
95 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
95 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to commentsGoodness. When are the All Blacks and New Zealand commentators going to stop complaining about how they could have won and just try to win next time 😂. In South Africa if you lose you get up and try again. Get over it.
95 Go to commentsHonestly, it doesn’t matter a whole lot. RSA has a ton of experienced talent in its leadership group. I am more interested in who is the new 8 man/8 men and the younger props. The captain may change but the system does not
1 Go to commentsBen, you are one of the most arrogant and self opionated rugby critics I have ever come across (next to Keohane). I hoped that after SA beating the best ranked teams in the world on their way to the WC (something not done before) that you might have the grace to admit that this is a special team that deserved the accolades coming their way. You have no humility and as has been been already pointed out, merely a troll to attract audience numbers. Count me out in the future.
95 Go to comments‘War of independence’. Such a grand name for a few skirmishes. Where were all the great battles of this ‘war’ ? Smith got goosebumps as he was being emotionally manipulated, another mushroom.
1 Go to comments