Marcus Smith can become a better full-back than fly-half according to the England assistant coach Kevin Sinfield who says that it would be a missed opportunity to throw the experiment “in the bin”.
After eight successive starts at fly-half for England – a sequence in which they only managed to beat Japan – Marcus Smith was shifted to full-back against France with Fin Smith taking over this No 10 shirt.
Sinfield is widely credited as the architect of the Harlequins playmaker moving to full-back during the build-up to the 2023 World Cup where he appeared in the group game against Chile, the quarter-final victory over Fiji and the third place play-off versus Argentina. Even though England technically boast a 100 per cent record with the Harlequins playmaker at full-back, there have been teething problems with the transition, especially in defence. However, Sinfield believes Smith’s skill set might be more suited to the No 15 rather than the No 10 shirt.
When asked if he could become a better full-back than fly-half, Sinfield said: “Ooof, I’d like to think so. If we could get him into a position where he’s world-class at both, it gives us some options. Like I said, a second ball player is really important with the make up in the backline. He could end up being a third ball-player at some stage.
“You look at how the game is played now and how valuable a second ball player can be. Marcus’ big strengths are when he is in space. We know he can do it when it is tight and there are lots of bodies around, he is able to move laterally very, very quickly so he puts defenders under a lot of stress. So clearly it makes sense to try and get him a little bit wider where the gaps tend to be a little bit bigger. It was never going to be an easy transition because he doesn’t play there for his club a lot although they have used him a bit, they brought Jarrod Evans on.
“He has not had a great deal of time there, not had a massive amount of minutes. We have all seen the reports how he loves playing 10, he is an outstanding 10 but I think he is a very, very good 15 as well.
“Clearly there are some elements that we all need to be better at, and I think Marcus would agree. Some of his 10 play and his 15 needs to improve, so I think if we all looked at the game from the weekend there will be some bits that are not as good as we could be, but I think if we throw it in the bin now it’ll be a wasted opportunity.”
Sinfield’s official remit as an assistant coach lies in ‘skills and kicking’, he also acts as the sounding board for the squad and his services have been in high demand in recent weeks. As Marcus Smith told Telegraph Sport before the Six Nations, he sees himself a specialist fly-half who now finds himself at full-back while George Ford is stuck on 98 caps outside of the matchday squad. Even Fin Smith is far from content, according to Sinfield.
“It’s funny because all three of them are that driven that none of them are happy,” Sinfield. “The time I spend with them is very, very different because they are different characters, going through different stuff. Fin wants to improve his game. He’s started the last two but he wants to be better and have more of an influence in there.
“George has been exemplary. You get better at it with age, although I think it stings more, the older you get. He’s been awesome. I would probably play down Marcus’s massive drive to play 10. I think he understands his role; what he’s done for the last two weeks and how important he’s been for us. He’s a big running threat, has got a good kicking game, and his relationship with Fin and George has enhanced this campaign, the work the three of them do, how hard they push each other… all three of them are world class, so we’re very fortunate to have all three.
“So, I don’t think any of them are happy but, right across the team, I don’t think there’s anyone that is happy. There are people who might be satisfied with one or two bits of their game, but there’s certainly no complacency here and we understand we’ve gone through two really close games and come out the right side of them, but to keep moving forward in this campaign, we have to keep showing improvements. We get a chance to do that again, which is great.”
