MIKE BROWN: Marcus Smith showed he can overcome his England snub with superb Harlequins performance

I exchanged a couple of messages with Marcus Smith final week, checking in with him as a result of I understand how it feels when choice doesn’t go your method. He’s an ultra-competitive man and he needs to be beginning for England, however the actuality is that he’s in all probability going to need to get used to a task on the bench for now.

With the journey England are on in the mean time, Owen Farrell and George Ford are higher suited to the fashion of play. Steve Borthwick is constructing his recreation plan round set piece, kicking and doing the fundamentals rather well and that gained’t change a lot between now and the World Cup. It doesn’t play into the palms of Marcus’s tremendous power, which is his working recreation.

Marcus advised me he was actually excited for the chance to get again on the market for Harlequins yesterday and revel in some recreation time. And didn’t he simply! That’s precisely the mindset you want and precisely the response Steve can have wished to see.

I believe he needs to be again on the bench in opposition to France as a result of I don’t assume his axis with Farrell works. George Ford hasn’t completed sufficient to earn a spot again within the matchday 23 and Smith presents an X factor that the opposite No10’s don’t.

England will want his working recreation sooner or later. It’s a wide variety headache to have. You want that form of depth if you wish to be a world-beating group. Marcus will simply need to bide his time earlier than he turns into the principle man. A expertise like his will get alternatives however the brief turnaround to the World Cup doesn’t work in his favour.

Marcus Smith should get used to a spot on England’s bench, regardless of his glorious Harlequins efficiency

If Scott Robertson had acquired the England job, I’m positive the sport plan would have been constructed round Marcus. The RFU had the selection between two very totally different coaches and Steve was their man. They knew precisely what Steve would convey, as a result of he’s completed it at Saracens and Leicester, and now it’s on Steve to indicate that it brings outcomes. 

He’ll be judged on outcomes, not fashion factors. Some individuals say it’s boring. It is probably not essentially the most engaging rugby but it surely’s efficient. They’re kicking with objective. It’s not like the top of the Eddie period once they have been kicking overlaps and resorting to the boot for the sake of it.

They kicked so much in opposition to Wales however they gained the aerial battle, then the breakdown and we noticed glimpses of their unstructured assault off the again of it. They’re the identical fundamentals we went to when Eddie got here in and I’m positive they’ll add further layers over time.

Steve Borthwick has not chosen Smith for England’s Six Nations conflict with France on Saturday 

If Scott Robertson had been chosen over Borthwick for the England job Smith would’ve been far more concerned

Eddie was in all probability shrewder at controlling the narrative. He would drop hand grenades within the media to take the dialog away from issues like fashion. Perhaps that’s expertise but it surely acquired fairly boring by the top. Steve’s genuine and sincere and he’ll hold doing what he does.

You’ve acquired to start out someplace. Would you moderately run it from in every single place like Italy and lose or play like South Africa and win? I’d moderately see profitable rugby. Going into the France recreation, I hope he sticks with the identical 23 to construct up some consistency. Relentless tinkering isn’t productive.

There’s a great alternative to beat France as a result of they’re not as dominant as they have been final 12 months, however England might want to have a worldie of a recreation. It’s a large step up from Wales, who I assumed have been actually poor. My coronary heart says England may get a memorable win however my head is saying France will edge it by three or 4 factors.