Marchant move to the Blues could be just the beginning
On a day to forget for Harlequins fans, as their side fell to a 14-19 loss at home to Worcester Warriors, the club was making news in other ways, as they inked standout centre Joe Marchant to a three-year contract extension, as well as facilitating him a loan to the Blues in Super Rugby.
The move, which has no real precedent in the professional era of English rugby, will see Marchant spend six months with the Auckland-based franchise, and comes 19 months after Quins and New Zealand Rugby (NZR) entered into a co-operation agreement. It had been presumed the partnership would see players move from New Zealand to south-west London on sabbatical, not the other way around.
Marchant will head out to Auckland for January 1st and stay with the franchise until June 30th, meaning he will miss the second half of the Gallagher Premiership season, as well as the opportunity to break into the England team for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations. With Henry Slade and Jonathan Joseph injured at the time, Marchant featured in three of England’s four Rugby World Cup warm-up Tests earlier this year, impressing and grabbing his debut international try in his first start against Italy.
Although the trio of Slade, Joseph and Manu Tuilagi are all currently fit, their workload is expected to be managed this season and it would not have been surprising to see Marchant involved come the Six Nations, making this temporary move to New Zealand a bold one. The centre has plenty to gain, as do the Blues, though it opens a door to promising centres such as Ollie Lawrence and Fraser Dingwall.
Speaking on the announcement of the centre’s sabbatical, Harlequins Head of Rugby Paul Gustard was enthusiastic on the move.
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“We pride ourselves at the club at treating people as individuals and helping them be the best version of themselves. Joe has had a long-standing ambition to play Super Rugby and with our strong connection with NZR we are pleased we can help facilitate this ambition.
“It is not common practice for this to occur, of which we accept, but we are not a normal club and we must have both Joe’s and the club’s interests at heart. I believe his genuine desire to play Super Rugby was so great we wanted to make sure he had this opportunity whilst he has also extended his contract with us, the club he loves and is hugely loved and respected at.
“I believe he has the potential to be the best 13 in England and this opportunity he has will further strengthen his resolve to maximise his talents, returning with increased motivation to play his best rugby for Harlequins and earn the national shirt.”
A World Cup win in 2023 would be one of the greatest achievements for NZR. The annual results at under-20 level highlight a far more competitive landscape heading towards France, writes @bensmithrugby https://t.co/IAHvRVX2YB
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 10, 2019
There is no reason to doubt that sentiment, either, with plenty of players over the years having benefitted from stints in New Zealand. England’s Rugby World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson spent time there, whilst stays in the country also added to the games of James Haskell and Tom Wood, as well as Nathan Earle, Piers Francis and Matt Symons more recently. Youngsters have also been spending more time there, too, as evidenced by Andy Christie’s placement with the Wellington academy last year.
As far as Marchant’s game goes, it could not be better suited to a season in Super Rugby. As a player who excels with his speed, footwork and support-running, and complements it with an incisive kicking option, polished handling and good decision-making, the prospect of that skill set being honed in Super Rugby is an exciting one. The former England under-18 and under-20 star has been on a trajectory that seemed bound for regular senior international caps and there’s no doubt that staying in England would be the ‘safer’ option for the centre, making this move all the more exciting from a neutral’s point of view.
From Quins’ perspective, they may be losing one of their most influential and effective players for the second half of this season, but they stand a very good chance of gaining an even more influential contributor upon his return. They’re not banking on just having success in 2019/20, they’re attempting to build a squad capable of consistent and sustained success over multiple years. Their facilitating of this speaks to that goal.
Of course, it’s not just a move with Marchant’s development in mind. That will be the hopeful outcome for Marchant and the club, but what about the Blues? What do the sleeping giants of southern hemisphere rugby get out of this?
Not only do they get an excellent rugby player, one who will help make up for the losses of Ma’a Nonu and Sonny Bill Williams this year, they will also get as many learning opportunities from Marchant as he gets from them.
The Blues have been a fair way away from the playoffs from a number of years now and changing playing personnel and coaching staffs have not been able to rectify that. Admittedly, they play in the toughest conference in Super Rugby and that is reflected in their reasonably good record versus South African and Australian teams, but they will also be able to develop thanks to the presence of Marchant and the IP he brings from Quins.
Despite a recent Rugby World Cup semi-final result, there is still a perception of New Zealand being the bar in terms of rugby ability. It is a fair perception in a lot of ways, but there is also no denying Marchant’s ability and assuming he settles in well in Auckland, he should be the first name on the teamsheet in the franchise’s midfield.
Alongside the incoming Beauden Barrett and homegrown star Rieko Ioane, Marchant will be one of the standout backs at the Blues and despite being just 23 years of age himself, will bring some valuable experience to a group that boasts young talents such as Harry Plummer, Stephen Perofeta and Tanielu Tele’a. If head coach Leon MacDonald can get the group to click, it has no shortage of firepower.
Two-time Super Rugby champion Aaron Cruden will be returning home next season. #SuperRugby https://t.co/v2RRiuW3cz
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 10, 2019
Although Quins fans will miss seeing Marchant turn out at the Stoop come January, it is an exciting and intriguing move for the player, not to mention a strengthening of that partnership between the club and NZR, something which bodes well for the future.
No other English club has a co-operation agreement in place in the way Quins do, but they will be watching on as interested observers, make no mistake of that. If the move proves to be a success for both the Blues and Marchant – and consequently Quins in the long-term – it could well pre-empt further temporary switches.
English clubs carry large squads to deal with the attritional nature of their seasons, though young players can frequently go underused. That is not the case with Marchant, of course, although there are players up and down the country who would benefit from stints abroad, developing mentally and technically in a different environment to the one they have become accustomed to. As Kiwi, Australian and South African franchises struggle to compete financially with the northern hemisphere, opportunities are there for players to move south on development loans.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments