The 'big difference' that denied Marcus Smith a fair England chance

Former England player Austin Healey has claimed that Marcus Smith wasn’t given a fair chance to impress by new head coach Steve Borthwick during the recent Guinness Six Nations. The Harlequins out-half was chosen as his country’s No10 in the matches versus Scotland and France. However, he was given limited time as a sub in the other games, a few late minutes against Italy and just 30 seconds in Wales before being an unused replacement last weekend versus Ireland.

Smith was back in club action this Saturday, starting for Harlequins in their latest Gallagher Premiership match and going head-to-head against Saracens and Owen Farrell, his main rival for the England No10 jersey. Farrell was said to have marginally shaded that individual battle in a fixture that Saracens won 36-24 to clinch a home semi-final in May.

Prior to the start of the game at Tottenham Stadium in front of a bumper 55,109 attendance, TV pundit Healey shared his thoughts about the difficult situation Smith had endured with England, losing his place in recent months after being the No1 choice at No10 under previous head coach Eddie Jones.

Asked why Smith had struggled to impress with England in contrast to his greater consistency with Harlequins, Healey suggested: “The big difference is (Andre) Esterhuizen because when you are a player like Smith you like the outside. But if your centres also like the outside and Henry Slade likes the outside as does (Ollie) Lawrence, then they are quite happy to go with you.

“Esterhuizen will straighten up a defence and keep the tighter. The big difference is he never got to play with Esterhuizen for England for obvious reasons [he is a South African international] and he didn’t get to play with Manu Tuilagi, who is arguably the closest thing England have got to Esterhuizen. So when you have got a big, straight-running guy, he can close a defence off and keep them tight.

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“When you haven’t got that then everything moves sideways and in international rugby, defences moving sideways control the whole pitch and that is the problem that he faced. You can argue, and a lot of English rugby supporters will argue, he didn’t really get a fair crack of the whip because he didn’t get to play with the same style of rugby that he plays with week in, week out at Harlequins.

“(Nick) David, beaten more defenders than anyone else in the competition, he has got him in the backline. He has got Danny Care, 10 try assists, better than any other nine in the country in terms of try assists and try creation. So, he has sort of been parachuted into a team that arguably doesn’t suit his style.”

Quizzed if the Six Nations had definitely settled the Farrell versus Smith England No10 debate in favour of the Saracens player, Healey added: “No, I don’t think it was and it will go on through the camp in the summer to see where they get to.

“Watching Farrell in Ireland, he was right at the front of everything, and he stood up and he stands up to the biggest guys. There are not many fly-halves in world rugby that stand up to big backs, particularly the physical ones like the Irish have got.”