Marcus Smith urged to kickstart England attack against Fiji after setbacks
Steve Borthwick has acknowledged the challenges presented by managing Marcus Smith’s diminished role for England but has urged the recalled playmaker to kickstart his side’s attack against Fiji on Saturday.Borthwick revealed that he met with Smith before England’s autumn campaign to offer support to the Harlequins No 10, who was first-choice fly-half 12 months ago before being moved to full-back and then to the role of super sub.After a patchy start to the season with Harlequins, Smith was absent from England’s 25-7 victory over Australia last weekend but with Freddie Steward nursing a hand injury, he comes back into the side at full-back while Fin Smith replaces George Ford at fly-half.In total, Borthwick has made seven personnel changes with Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Alex Coles, Ollie Lawrence and Chandler Cunningham-South starting against Fiji, who were victorious on their most recent visit to Twickenham in 2023.Genge will captain the side from the start with Maro Itoje, who has been struggling with a lower leg injury, named on the bench for the first time since 2017.
Marcus Smith, who signed a new Harlequins deal last year, has made clear that his preferred position is fly-half but his versatility earned him a spot on the summer’s British & Irish Lions tour of Australia and is valued by Borthwick, who again awarded enhanced contracts to all three of his fly-halves over the summer.“[Marcus Smith is] a brilliant player and it’s very competitive with the three fly-halves we’ve got,” said Borthwick.“Marcus has the versatility to play 15 as well and I think he’s a top class 15.He’s always working, you see him out there at the end of training, he’s always working to add to his game.I think he’s hungry and he’s an exciting player.
That’s what I suppose I want to see on Saturday.“Marcus is someone I’ve met a couple of times out of camp in the last period.I think I want all the players to feel supported on the journey.It’s rare that anybody’s journey just goes in one direction and stays that way.Players always have bumps and their own corners to turn, that’s always part of the nature of it and I think the coaching team is there supporting our players.
M Smith (Harlequins); T Freeman (Northampton), O Lawrence (Bath), F Dingwall (Northampton), I Feyi-Waboso (Exeter); F Smith (Northampton), A Mitchell (Northampton); E Genge (Bristol, co-captain), L Cowan-Dickie (Sale), J Heyes (Leicester), A Coles (Northampton), O Chessum (Leicester ), G Pepper (Bath), B Earl (Saracens), C Cunningham-South (Harlequins),Replacements: J George (Saracens), F Baxter (Harlequins), A Opoku-Fordjour (Sale), M Itoje (Saracens, co-captain), T Curry (Sale ), H Pollock (Northampton), B Spencer (Bath), H Arundell (Bath),“Whereas a player is always selected for their club, sometimes that’s not quite the case here and the role changes,That produces challenges for us and in the environment because they all want to play, but I’d much rather it that way than the other way,”England scored four tries against the Wallabies but were only 10-7 up at half-time and it took Henry Pollock’s moment of magic to lift a decidedly flat Twickenham crowd after the interval.
Borthwick lamented England’s failure to finish off tries having worked themselves into promising positions but believes his decision to recall both Smiths can sharpen his side’s attacking potency.Sign up to The BreakdownThe latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewedafter newsletter promotion“Fin Smith and Marcus were champing a bit for the opportunity,” said Borthwick.“So I think you see a team that will want to move the ball.I think you see again we’ve got pace and power on the edges.I’m really hopeful there that we’ll see Marcus in space in unstructured opportunities, which I think everybody in the stadium is going to be excited when that ball comes into Marcus’s hand in a bit of space.
Last week we had some of those opportunities, the players had a great attitude in some difficult conditions to go and take those opportunities in unstructured situations.Unfortunately, we didn’t convert them.”Borthwick explained his decision to omit Itoje from the starting lineup was due to an injury sustained by the captain against the Wallabies that prevented him from taking part in training until Thursday.The Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, had urged Borthwick to rest Itoje at some point during the autumn on the back of an exhausting season in which he led the Lions against the Wallabies and exceeded the mandatory game limit but the England head coach insisted he was not obliged to rest his captain.“Maro had a little knock, again nothing to any great extent, but it meant he couldn’t train the first half of the week,” said Borthwick.
“I felt the right thing to do was to prioritise the combination that were training for the full week.That’s why I made the decision to put Maro on the bench.Player welfare is always paramount in my thoughts.We always work towards that.”
Reece Walsh lives up to star billing to become toast of English rugby league
Australia’s talisman, likened to LeBron James, has left lasting legacy in Ashes series amid gloom of sport’s futureThe debrief is yet to begin over the failure of England’s Ashes campaign both on and off the field, and just how big a missed opportunity the past few weeks could prove to be for the game in this country. But amid all the gloom, there has been an unlikely beacon of hope for the sport’s promoters.As the 52,000-plus crowd filtered away from Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday evening, there was a huge ruckus outside the players’ entrance. Not for any of the home players, who had once again flattered to deceive. Not even for Nathan Cleary, regarded as the world’s biggest star for a number of years and someone with genuine worldwide cut-through
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland dies at age of 24
The Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland has died at the age of 24, the team announced on Thursday.“It is with extreme sadness that the Dallas Cowboys share that Marshawn Kneeland tragically passed away this morning. Marshawn was a beloved teammate and member of our organization. Our thoughts and prayers regarding Marshawn are with his girlfriend Catalina and his family,” the team said in a statement.According to the Frisco police department, Kneeland appeared to have taken his own life after a late-night vehicle pursuit and multi-agency search
Ntamack and France aim to rid themselves of ‘trauma’ from World Cup defeat
Fly-half was not involved in heartbreaking quarter-final loss two years ago but is optimistic Les Bleus can exact revenge against South Africa – even without Antoine DupontRomain Ntamack was not on the pitch when Les Bleus last met South Africa just over two years ago, having been denied a starring role at the home World Cup by a knee ligament injury the previous summer. The Toulouse fly-half was nevertheless as affected as anyone by the one-point quarter-final defeat by the Springboks, which brought France’s ambitions to an abrupt and sobering end.“The trauma from that match went beyond the 23 players who were on the team sheet,” the 26-year-old said before this weekend’s rematch, which kicks off the autumn campaign for both sides. “We’ve moved on since then, though, and we’re fully focused on Saturday’s match.”After an underwhelming summer campaign in New Zealand that yielded three defeats in as many tests, France also have a more immediate point to prove
India beat Australia by 48 runs in fourth men’s Twenty20 international – as it happened
That’s all from me this evening as India’s depth continues to shine through especially as Australia’s lineup is weakened by the departure of several first-choice players to pre-Test duties. We’ll be back on Saturday for the fifth and final T20 as Australia chase a victory in Brisbane to level the series.But, for now, here is the full report from India’s 48-run win on the Gold Coast.Australia can still level the series in the fifth and final T20 on Saturday but Mitch Marsh can’t hide his disappointment at letting this game slip.We thought [India’s] 167 was par
‘What is rugby?’: New film Brothers on Three documents the game at West Point
With unprecedented access to one of the top US college programs, director Sean Mullin uncovers raw stories of love and lossAt the United States Military Academy at West Point, rugby has the best winning record of any men’s sports program. Brothers on Three, a new documentary about the team out this week, begins with scenes of wild joy from Houston, Texas in 2022, when the Black Knights beat St Mary’s, from California, to win their first US college title.And yet director Sean Mullin’s film is shot through with loss.There are losses, of course, on the field.Mullin and writer-producer Brian Anthony are West Point grads, rugby players too
WTA Finals tennis: Anisimova sends Swiatek out; Rybakina beats Alexandrova – as it happened
Amanda Anisimova fought past Iga Swiatek 6-7(3) 6-4 6-2 in a winner-takes-all match at the WTA Finals on Wednesday to join Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals and stay in the hunt for a first crown on her debut in the season-ending championship.The stage was set for the highly-anticipated clash between the pair after Swiatek routed Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 to lift her maiden Wimbledon crown in July, before the American gained revenge in the US Open quarter-finals in September.Following a fierce start to their latest meeting and 12 straight holds of serve, Poland’s Swiatek raised her level to seize control of the first set in the tiebreak, clinching it when Anisimova struck a forehand long.The war of attrition continued in the second set, before Anisimova ramped up the intensity on her forehand and earned the first break of the match in the 10th game to force a decider at the King Saud University Sports Arena.With confidence flowing, Anisimova carved out another break to surge 3-1 ahead in the third set and shift the pressure onto world No 2 Swiatek, and the resilient 24-year-old stayed firm from there and completed her comeback victory
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