The reasons Marcus Smith has not locked down the England 10 shirt yet

Harlequins fly-half has been an asset for Steve Borthwick this autumn, but most other backs have been peripheral in attack

Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
It sums up the perplexing nature of England’s autumn that perhaps their biggest plus from the past month could well turn into a headache that will stew over the festive period until the Six Nations arrives.
Marcus Smith has conjured dazzling moments throughout November, appearing at times to be carrying the team from fly-half. Equally, there is a valid – yet horribly awkward – question mark over his ability to facilitate others.
They may have scored eight tries in three Tests, but it has been a fitful November for England as far as collective cohesion in attack. There are several aspects at play here. The absence of Alex Mitchell has hurt them and England have clearly become preoccupied by the refereeing directives on escorting, which have compromised their ability to return kicks. Line-out returns have been inconsistent, too.
To be clear, Smith has not coughed up restarts, conceded scrum penalties or failed to clear out jackalling opponents at the breakdown. Though he was slightly tentative at the death against Australia, when he pressed up and bit on to Len Ikitau before the latter offloaded to Max Jorgensen, and was charged down by Springboks flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit for another try, Smith has tackled robustly.
Because of all that, querying the 25-year-old’s role will stir strong feelings. But, apart from Ollie Sleightholme, who has finished three tries created by Smith, it is difficult to think of an outside back who has enjoyed a prominent autumn. Tommy Freeman has been influential, chiefly as a chaser of high balls. According to Stats Perform, Freeman has picked up 31 attacking touches in 240 minutes on the pitch. Just 11 of those have come from a team-mate’s pass.
Other backs have seemed largely peripheral when England have had possession. And some of that must be attributed to Smith – or maybe the ability of others to familiarise themselves with him.
Ollie Lawrence spoke eloquently about that process at Pennyhill Park on Tuesday evening. “Marcus is a world-class 10,” explained the Bath centre. “He’s not your standard, up-and-down 10. It can be frantic in the way it looks, but it’s not. It’s actually controlled within the way he plays. You have to adapt at times to get that feel of how he moves and how we find the next hole.
“You just start to figure out ‘he’s coming that little bit wider, so I have to be one hole wider’ or ‘I need to hold my feet a bit more because he’s going to attack the line a bit more’. These little cues I’ve started to pick up over the last year playing with Marcus.”
Coaches often stress that attack takes longer to come together than defence because there are more moving parts and Smith’s idiosyncrasies do appear to have added another complicating factor for England to figure out. This is together with a centre partnership striving for cohesion. 
Here, close to the half-hour mark against South Africa, England appear to be set in a dangerous shape. There is a pod of three forwards off Jack van Poortvliet with Smith in behind and Henry Slade and Lawrence in a second layer. Ben Earl is on the far touchline holding width:
But Smith stops on the pull-back from Jamie George, Slade overruns and Lawrence cannot hold onto a shovelled pass under pressure from Kurt-Lee Arendse:
While it is difficult to blame any single individual here, it is a snapshot of a team striving for synergy.
In a fascinating video for The Rugby Pod this year, Smith’s style of play was insightfully described by Dan Biggar. “He’s not a particularly connected 10, in a way that other players are connected to their pods of forwards,” the 112-cap Wales fly-half said of Smith. “He’s very much a free spirit who has licence to change direction when he wants.
“He’s not particularly interested in those first couple of phases. He’s waiting for an opportunity, waiting for a tight-five forward to pick on.”
Now, this freedom has been harnessed well by England at times. Arguably the best demonstration of this came for their first try against the Springboks, when Smith burst away from the pocket to scamper around South Africa’s props and link with Slade to set up Sleightholme:
10 🤝 11🤝 12Marcus Smith, Henry Slade and Ollie Sleightholme creating a piece of magic for @EnglandRugby 🪄Watch the #AutumnNationsSeries live on @rugbyontnt 📺 pic.twitter.com/zGbzmHLQfK
In the same corner of Twickenham a week previously against the Wallabies, Smith bustled down the short side of a maul and threaded through a grubber that Sleightholme pounced upon:
5 star service ⭐Marcus Smith puts it on a plate for Ollie Sleightholme 🍽️Watch the #AutumnNationsSeries live on @rugbyontnt 📺@SaintsRugby @Harlequins pic.twitter.com/BeQLiEsDXS
Earlier in the defeat by Australia came a sharp blend of structured and unstructured attack. Tellingly, it begins with George Furbank assuming control. He is nestled in behind a three-man pod…
…which allows Jamie George to send Tom Curry through a gap:
Smith is on his feet by the next phase but Furbank stays at first-receiver and plays a pull-back behind two forwards to Smith. Lawrence cuts an angle off Smith and England have quick ball:
They capitalise by going off the cuff, Ellis Genge stepping up at scrum-half to feed Smith, who can pick out a mismatch against Taniela Tupou, the Wallabies tighthead prop, and dart through a gap:
This neat attack led to a try for Chandler Cunningham-South, and should be England’s template. There is a framework in place, but Smith is allowed to improvise within that. Ironically, it is not too dissimilar from what Eddie Jones was attempting to implement with Owen Farrell and Smith in tandem.
Unfortunately for the current team, they have experienced too many teething problems.
Here, with England attacking a Springboks defence that has just been reduced to 14 men thanks to Gerhard Steenekamp’s yellow card, is a fine example of the lack of connection that Biggar speaks about.
After a maul ekes out metres and earns a penalty advantage, Smith swings to the short side again…
…and stays there as the forwards bash away:
He arcs across with Freddie Steward to join Lawrence and Slade, but Harry Randall’s pass goes flat to Alex Dombrandt:
When the phase breaks up, with Andrew Brace coming back for the penalty, Smith and Lawrence are on one side of the ruck with Slade calling for the ball on the other:
The running threat of Mitchell, a feature of the series in New Zealand four months ago, feels like an effective foil for Smith. It enhances the threat of England’s forwards while tying in defenders and giving Smith greater scope to scan and organise. The stock of Mitchell has risen during the scrum-half’s lay-off.
There is also the question about back-line balance and marrying a strategy that suits it. Furbank received only seven passes from team-mates this month; two in 80 minutes against New Zealand and five more in 62 minutes against Australia. As two key playmakers, one would expect them to dovetail more often.
Against the All Blacks, the only time that Smith passed to Furbank was from the interception that brought about Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s try. Against Australia, Smith passed to Furbank twice more. This is the second instance.
England have adopted a tidy-enough shape, with Furbank circling around in behind forwards on Smith’s shoulder…
…but the alignment again appears to grow disjointed and Slade is met by a firm tackle from Ikitau. Andrew Kellaway jackals and England lose possession:
The player to have registered the fifth-most passes for England, after Ben Spencer (97), Randall (50), Van Poortvliet (44) and Smith (43), is George Martin, with 15. Slade is next on 13. After that, the next highest backs are George Ford and Freeman, with eight. Furbank, an intuitive and skilful distributor, has passed seven times in 142 minutes.
Although Dombrandt’s selection has sometimes been linked to his connection with Smith, the latter has not found Dombrandt nor Cunningham-South, another Harlequins colleague, with a single pass this autumn.
Overarching strategy clearly contributes, and Smith himself has kicked 41 times from 92 attacking touches. Here, against South Africa, England look blinkered by a desire to challenge the Springboks in the air. That much was obvious from their selection of Steward over Furbank at full-back.
They win impetus with a clever line-out move, as Sam Underhill joins the set-piece as an inset lifter before Martin passes away to put Ben Earl into the “seam” of the defensive line.
Ox Nche’s counter-ruck makes things messy and Manie Libbok shoots up to pressurise Smith. But, even with momentum, there does not seem to be any thought other than to hoist a high ball:
Great example of how England are a bits-and-pieces team at the moment. Very clever line-out: Underhill inset lifter, Martin surprise distributor to send Earl into the seam. But ball lost on next phase. Nche’s tackle/counter-ruck and Libbok’s charge-down are superb, in fairness pic.twitter.com/OOsDreI4Ja
Clearly, other playmakers can help out Smith here if they are assertive. A scrum-half might sense impetus and play a flat pass to a forward around the fringes with South Africa backpedalling. Centres, full-backs and wings could spot space wider and call for a pass rather than a kick. Not everything has to rest on the shoulders of Smith.
Ford and Fin Smith would be characterised as fly-halves who are more connected to forwards in phase play and more likely to help others to accentuate their strengths. Interestingly, when Ford came on against Australia and shifted Marcus Smith to full-back, he found Smith with three passes including this one, which led to a grubber that eventually brought about Maro Itoje’s try:
Ford passed to Smith three times in their 18 minutes on the pitch together, the same number of times that Smith passed to Furbank in the 142 minutes they have collaborated as a 10-15 combination this month.
The solution may simply be time and patience because margins are fine. In any case, it will be doubly difficult for Steve Borthwick to do without Smith given the palpable views of supporters.
Ford, evidently brought back into the squad to shepherd England through tight finishes as Beauden Barrett had done for the All Blacks in July, was not used at all against the Springboks. Having Smith and Ford on the pitch together, as they had been against Australia, would have been dangerous given the aerial work of the world champions.
Smith is a weapon in his own right from the back-field and when the game breaks up. He has also been reliable from the tee. When he was taken off against New Zealand at the beginning of this campaign, England were 22-14 up.
But as much as this autumn has featured magical moments, it has also highlighted England’s failure to bring out the best in their back line. And that is a pressing issue.
SIX NATIONS TOUR
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email