As with Tommy’s untimely demise, the writing has been on the wall for this precipitous fall from grace. After starting the opening Six Nations match against Ireland, which coincidentally was the last time England lost a Test match, Smith moved first to full-back and then to the bench. After Smith had told Telegraph Sport last February, “I am not shy in saying I want to play at 10”, Borthwick was at pains to emphasise the benefits of his new role.
On starting Smith at full-back, Borthwick said: “Listen, Marcus is a game changer. Marcus is a player with incredible ability. Sometimes, the opposition focuses very much on him. Sometimes, that creates space for others. Sometimes, there will be a window for him to find.”
On moving him to the bench, Borthwick said: “We all know that he has the ability to find space that other players can’t. The exciting thing I’m looking forward to this weekend is unleashing him when there is a bit of fatigue on the pitch, a bit of space on the pitch. When he comes on with his freshness, I think the whole stadium will be excited to see him come on in that second half.”
Bin-juice status
This will represent, potentially, Borthwick’s greatest challenge of man management as England head coach. At least with his conversion to full-back, Borthwick could legitimately say that got him a place on the Lions tour. However, there is no sugar coating demotion to “bin-juice” status, particularly with the less versatile Fin Smith preferred to him as the back-line coverage on a 6-2 bench.
The best Borthwick could do was to point to the example of George Ford, who found himself outside of the match-day squad until the final match of this year’s Six Nations. “Every day he was the best trainer in the squad. Every day he was helping the team prepare. That’s the role model, that’s the standard.”
While Borthwick’s call to start Ford, with Northampton’s Smith backing him up, is entirely justifiable, Marcus offers a different, dangerous set of skills which is likely to be crucial to England’s 2027 World Cup campaign. His unpredictability may make him difficult to build a team around, but it is a match-winning weapon few other English playmakers possess.
