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The promise Steve Borthwick has made to the excluded Marcus Smith

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Dan Mullan/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Steve Borthwick has given Marcus Smith assurance that he will be named in the England squad when it gathers next Sunday evening to begin match week preparations for the round four Guinness Six Nations game versus France on March 11. Smith had been a starter in 15 consecutive Test matches for England as their out-half, but he has suffered a significant tumble in recent weeks.

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After being named to start in Borthwick’s first match in charge, the 2023 championship opener against Scotland, Smith was dropped to the bench versus Italy and Wales. He played less than a minute in that later appearance, Borthwick opting to stick with skipper Owen Farrell until the 80th minute at the Principality Stadium before introducing Smith for the round three game’s final play.

The coach has since decided to exclude Smith from the squad of 26 named for this week’s two-and-a-half-day training camp in Brighton, releasing the out-half back to Harlequins who have their Big Game promotion versus Exeter at Twickenham this Saturday.

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With George Ford named in the training squad in place of Smith, the speculation since the squad announcement on Tuesday was that the 2019 World Cup final No10 was now poised to take the place of Smith in the England match day squad against the French on Saturday week.

That is a debate that Borthwick didn’t entertain at his latest media briefing. What he did say was that Smith would definitely be included by England on Sunday when they name their match week squad to prepare for the French and that the risk of the half-back getting injured playing for Harlequins was outweighed by the prospect of him getting match sharp for his country.

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“It was my decision that I then discussed with Marcus where I said the best thing for you to do is to play the game this weekend, go and play really well for your club in a big game this weekend. He has had limited game time the last two, three weeks,” explained Borthwick. “When we reassemble on Sunday, Marcus will be back in the squad and he understands the thing I want him to have is that match sharpness which is really important for him.

“A message I say regularly is they have got great strengths, they are fantastic players and Marcus is a brilliant player. I want him to bring his strengths onto the pitch – what he can do is he can open up defences and I’d love to see him open up the defence, put people through space, find space himself. He has a great tactical awareness and that multitude of kicking skills, he can create space and attack space and that is the message I have consistently given to him.”

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Asked about the potential injury risk in playing a club match sevens days before England resume their Six Nations campaign, Borthwick added: “That is always a question and it is the trade-off. The feeling I have for Marcus is that match sharpness. Get into the 10 shirt, boss a game, boss the team and reassemble with us on Sunday afternoon. Yes, there is a risk (of injury) there but the benefit of getting that match sharpness outweighs that.”

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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