England half-centurion Smith reflects on journey from prodigy to veteran

Lost in the chaos of that tryfest in Paris between France and England to bring the curtain down on the Six Nations were a couple of landmark appearances, with Sam Underhill and Marcus Smith making their 50th appearances for their country.

There was no time - nor was it necessarily the right time - in the aftermath of a 48-46 win for France to ask Smith for an assessment of his England career to date. 

A more intimate room months later at Pennyhill Park felt like a better opportunity, with Smith on a sweltering day dressed in a sweatshirt while remaining the coolest person in the room, proving to be refreshingly candid. About England and Harlequins and the pressure he puts on himself, the sleepless nights in hotel rooms obsessing over mistakes, replaying clips over and over, and taking inspiration from Rory McIlroy’s work with a psychologist to “playing every shot on the final day like it was his last”, as Smith puts it.

“There’s a reason why we all practise so hard, to showcase it in the biggest of moments, and I think that’s the frustration that I sometimes have whenever I do go within myself, for whatever reason, is why the hell did I not do it? I’ve been practising it for years on end: why didn’t I? And sadly, that’s the reality of elite sport,” Smith explains.

“You only really get that picture once, and you train so hard for that picture to come up, and you kick yourself in bed. And I’ve had sleepless nights after games where you’re like, ‘Fucking hell, Marcus, why didn’t you kick it? Why didn’t you pass it?’ And sadly, you’re never gonna get those [opportunities] again, and that’s something that I think we as a group don’t want to have moving forward.”

Two recent examples come to mind. His form off the tee in the run-up to England’s first Test in New Zealand two summers ago had been good. In the game itself he missed three kicks in a one-point defeat - England’s best chance of a win in New Zealand since 2003. 

“I’d kicked well all week; for whatever reason that day, it didn’t happen.”

In the Six Nations last year against Ireland, when England were on top, Smith kicked possession away when England had a five-on-three advantage out wide. The root of his frustration lay in knowing that the younger version of himself, the one with less scar tissue, would have always run the ball in that scenario.

“When I was 14, if I saw that [opportunity], I’m running every single day of the week. When I’m 18 at Quins, I’m running [that] every day of the week. Probably in another week [now], I run that, you know? And that was an opportunity that wound me up for a while, but that’s, I guess, the beauty of it.

“You build yourself up for those moments, and when you do execute them as a team, that’s why it’s so rewarding. That’s why when you score set-piece tries, or when you are able to put out on the field what you work so hard in the week for, it’s such an amazing feeling as a group.”

Blink and Smith has gone from being English rugby’s great prospect to a 27-year-old veteran, from a prodigy who toured with the British and Irish Lions in South Africa to a very good utility player that this England regime really like as a full-back. “It feels like I’ve been here for a long time,” he admits, and he’s right. He discusses a half-century of appearances for his country with genuine humility, while also not being too proud to admit that the shuffling between fly-half and full-back and the bench has been tricky.

“Over the 50 times I’ve had the opportunity to play for England, I haven’t been perfect, but I hope people see that I’ve delivered maximum effort and commitment to helping the team win. That’s something I’m extremely proud of,” he adds.

“I’m also extremely proud of the versatility I’ve shown over the second 25 games. It hasn’t been super easy, but when you get the opportunity to play for England… wherever I’d been asked to play, to be honest, I’d play. The opportunity to run out with some good mates in sold-out stadiums against the best players in the world is something I pinch myself about every time.”

One of those good mates would be Cadan Murley, the Harlequins winger who returned to England’s starting XV for the final two games of this year’s Six Nations and fared well on his return in Rome, in a defeat England would otherwise like to bury. Smith and Murley have been playing together since the Harlequins academy, so he knows how good Murley truly is. It was just a question of timing. “First and foremost, he’s an absolute freak,” as Smith puts it. “For me, I’ve seen that for a long time. Very, very proud of him, that he’s taking his opportunity now. Whenever I throw him the ball, I get super excited.”

The less said about Harlequins’s season the better. Watching the Prem playoffs play out - with two enthralling semi-finals followed by Northampton Saints holding off Exeter to claim the title - reiterated to Smith how much he wants to get back to those days. “Sadly, we haven’t been there for a few years, so that’s burning in my heart and my mind.” 

He remains signed up to Harlequins until 2028, going from an academy product to a British and Irish Lion with a Prem title along the way in 2021. Could he leave? His mind is “solely on getting us back into the top four”. But the time will come when he has to decide whether to remain at The Stoop or consider a new challenge, as it does for every player. “When that time is right, and with the support network I’ve got, that decision will come to me. I’m not going to go out there searching for that decision. I need to keep my head down, enjoying my rugby, which is when I’m at my best.”

The plan is to play for another decade. Perhaps a second wave of success will find him. “I’m positive the learnings I’ve made when it’s gone hunky-dory at club level, or here when it’s gone pear-shaped, hopefully it can be better than the first 10 [years].” Maybe so. It certainly feels as though Smith is poised to go up another level, to hit new heights.

Photograph by Franco Arland - RFU via Getty Images