Marcus Smith gets better of Owen Farrell to make case for England No 10 shirt
Only Steve Borthwick knows the front-runner to start in the England fly-half jersey this autumn, but one thing is for sure: Marcus Smith cannot be discounted just yet.
At the Stoop on Sunday, Smith returned to club action to inspire Harlequins to their first league victory of the season, scoring 15 points to condemn Saracens to their third consecutive defeat in this Prem fixture.
The narrative before Smith’s return had been that the battle for Borthwick’s No 10 jersey would be between his namesake, Fin, who had the shirt last season, and George Ford, who inspired England to a series win in Argentina.
But Marcus Smith, who last season was more of a peripheral figure at Test level, featuring more at full-back for both England and the Lions, reminded everyone of his talents in victory over Saracens. Another contender for the jersey, Owen Farrell, lined up at No 12 against him, with Fergus Burke at fly-half, but Smith got the better of both the tactical and scoring battle.
Smith, who kicked a late penalty to put the result beyond doubt, delivered a performance that was incredibly “un-Quinsy”.
The hosts kicked the absolute leather off it, with a third of their possession going in the air, but the approach bordered on a tactical masterclass. The fly-half’s use of the up-and-under – sometimes spiralled – sent the Saracens back field into somewhat of a meltdown. Max Malins had an afternoon to forget but Burke, Jack Bracken and Brandon Jackson – on for the injured Nick Tompkins – also came a cropper.
“Marcus is a British and Irish Lion and his job in our team is game management, which we have struggled with the first two weeks,” said Jason Gilmore, Harlequins’ senior coach. “When you talk about ‘unconventional’ with Harlequins, it does not mean throwing the ball about on your try-line. Some games it might mean that, but in others it might be about set-piece or kicking. Was it Quins? I’m not sure, but it was a different way to win a game of football.
“I don’t think it’ll be something you’ll see in our game regularly. We are Harlequins and we want to use the ball and we want to be scoring four tries a game. That’s our DNA. Smithy took the lead and we wanted to bring Rodrigo [Isgró] into the game more with his skill.”
“It was not a performance we can be proud of,” said Mark McCall, Saracens’ director of rugby. “I’d say we got what we deserved but we didn’t because we got a losing bonus point. We were lucky to get that, I don’t know that we deserved it. Quins were by far the better team. Marcus put everything on the money. Credit to Harlequins, they came with a great plan and executed it really well.”
Smith did not do it alone, however. Up front, Guido Petti, on debut alongside fellow Argentines Boris Wenger and Pedro Delgado, with fellow Puma Isgró also prominent, gave Harlequins greater solidity while the two flankers, Jack Kenningham and Will Evans, were irrepressible. Chandler Cunningham-South looked every bit the equal of England incumbent No 8 Tom Wills, although, admittedly, they both impressed, and the hosts’ defence was far more obdurate than in recent weeks. In the first two rounds, Harlequins conceded 76 points, but on Sunday it was just 14: two tries, both of which came from Saracens’ momentary brilliance, rather than any defensive mishap.
It was Smith who opened the scoring, dummying and kinking between Burke and Marco Riccioni after a thunderous early carry from Cunningham-South, before Saracens crossed for the try of the match.
McCall played it down as just a well executed strike-move – it did not come from a build-up of “pressure” – but it was aesthetically pleasing. From first phase, Farrell turned his back to the defence in midfield, with Harlequins expecting the centre to hit Burke on the wraparound, but instead Lucio Cinti cut clean through. Burke then worked tirelessly to support, switched with Cinti on the angle, and scored under the sticks.
Smith kicked a penalty to give Harlequins a half-time lead with the hosts turning the screw at scrum time – Saracens never cured this particular ailment – before daylight was established between the sides.
Oscar Beard, the England centre, burst clear off the second-half restart and Smith put boot to ball. Burke made a total hash of it in the back field and Tyrone Green hacked on to score. It was the worst possible start to the second half for Saracens and, in a game in which they never led on the scoreboard, the match was suddenly getting away from them.
But Quins are a side lacking that winning feeling and they were never able to put Saracens fully to the sword. Ben Earl, standing in acres of space wide on the right, got on the end of a Farrell cross-kick to reduce the deficit, but it always felt as though Saracens were playing catch-up.
Debutant Wenger had a try disallowed for a double movement but it mattered not. In a microcosm of the occasion, in the match’s dying embers, Malins spilt a high bomb, Ivan van Zyl brainlessly played the ball in an offside position, and Smith did the rest. Quins, and their No 10, are officially up and running.
[Source: Daily Telegraph]
