Marcus Smith (rugby union)

Marcus Sebastian Smith (born 14 February 1999) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Premiership Rugby club Harlequins. Born in the Philippines, he represents England at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.

Early life

Born in the Philippines to a British father and a Filipina mother, Smith started playing rugby union at the age of seven for Centaurs RFC when his family moved to Singapore. He moved to the United Kingdom at the age of thirteen and subsequently received a sports scholarship to attend Brighton College, where he captained the school's 1st XV. The young fly-half was named Player of the Tournament at the 2016 St Joseph's Rugby Festival.

Club career

The fly-half first represented Harlequins at the 2016 Premiership Rugby Sevens Series.

During the 2016–17 season, as part of the Harlequin Elite Player Development Group (EPDG), Smith played five fixtures for the Harlequin U18s Academy side, scoring two tries; one each against London Irish and Saracens and contributing ten points from the tee in Harlequins U18s Academy Final win over Sale Sharks U18s.

In March 2017, Smith was promoted from the EPDG up to the full-time Academy starting in June.

Smith was named in the 12-man senior squad, alongside another Brighton College graduate Calum Waters, for the 2017 Singha Premiership Rugby Sevens at Franklin's Gardens. Smith scored two tries against London Irish on the first day and assisted Harlequins in reaching the club semi-final before losing out to Newcastle Falcons.

On 2 September 2017 Smith made his professional debut wearing the number 10 jersey for the senior Harlequins side in the Premiership Rugby London Double Header fixture against London Irish at Twickenham Stadium. Two weeks later, Smith gave a Man-of-the-Match performance against Wasps, helping to end the home side's 20-match winning streak at Ricoh Arena.

He started in the Premiership final against Exeter Chiefs on 26 June 2021 as Harlequins won the game 40–38 in the highest scoring Premiership final ever, which included four conversions from Smith's boot.

In the Heineken Champions Cup match between Harlequins and Castres Olympique on 21/01/22, Smith scored the final conversion after Alex Dombrandt scored the final try, giving Harlequins a win of 36 to 33.

In March 2023, having been left out of the training squad for England's 2023 Six Nations fixture that week, Smith won man of the match in Harlequins Big Game fixture, beating Exeter Chiefs 40-5.

During the 2023–24 Champions Cup, Smith scored a try and a drop goal, winning man of the match at Harlequins beat Racing 92 31-28 away. In March 2024, he won man of the match again, scoring a try and supplying a cross-field kick to André Esterhuizen as Harlequins won their first ever Champions Cup knockout game, beating Glasgow Warriors 28-24 at home in the Round of 16. The following week he kicked 5 conversions in the club's 42-41 defeat of Union Bordeaux Bègles in the quarter finals making it only the second time the club had won a knockout stage game in the competition and there first away victory at this stage. Following their qualification to the semi finals, Smith was one of eight players nominated for Player of the Championship for the 2023-24 season.

International career

England U18

Smith started his first England appearance with a try in an under-16s match victory against Wales in April 2015. In February 2017 Smith represented the England under-20 team against Italy in the 2017 Six Nations Under 20s Championship and then in April 2017 scored a try for the England under-18 team against Ireland.

In May 2017, Smith took part in a training session with the elite senior England squad, during their 3-day camp at Brighton College, in preparation for the Old Mutual Wealth Cup match against the Barbarians and their summer tour to Argentina.

In July 2017 Smith was named in the England U18s squad for a tour of South Africa in August but was withdrawn prior to the tour and instead on 3 August 2017 Smith was named in Eddie Jones' pre-season senior England training squad. Eddie Jones described Smith's inclusion in the senior squad as part of the plan to develop young players as well as to give pressure on experienced players such as Owen Farrell and George Ford.

England U20

On 22 September 2017, Smith was named in the 33-man England training squad for a camp in Oxford ahead of the Autumn internationals, although England coach Eddie Jones said he would be "treated like an apprentice". In the following month on 26 October, Smith was called into the England squad for the Autumn international series. He was also part of the training squad during the 2018 Six Nations Championship.

Smith was named in the England U20 squad for the 2018 World Rugby Under 20 Championship in France and scored tries in pool games against Argentina and Italy. He started at fly-half for the semi-final against South Africa and defeat in the final against France as England finished runners up to the hosts. Smith declined selection for the 2019 World Rugby Under 20 Championship.

England

After declining to join the 2019 U-20 team, Smith instead made his non-capped England debut on 2 June 2019 against the Barbarians. During the game, Smith contributed 26 points, including a try towards a 51–43 victory for England and was awarded Man-of-the-Match for his performance.

On 4 July 2021, Smith made his full England test debut against the United States, contributing 13 points, including a try, in a 43–29 victory. He earned his second start against Canada six days later, with a faultless kicking display in a 70–14 win for England.

In the 2021 Autumn rugby union internationals Smith scored a try as a second-half replacement against Tonga on 6th November, and kicked five conversions. He started the match against Australia the following week as fly-half but often stood outside Owen Farrell until Farrell went off injured in the second half. He played a full match at fly-half against South Africa on 20th November, kicking three conversions and two penalties, one in the last minute to give England the victory by a single point.

England's 2022 Six Nations season opened with the Calcutta Cup fixture away at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on 5 February. In the absence of Owen Farrell through injury and George Ford not in the original squad, Smith started at number 10 and his performance was highly praised. However many were surprised that, despite this and England's early dominance, coach Eddie Jones decided to replace Smith after 60 minutes despite his having scored a try and made four successful kicks. In the subsequent Six Nations game against Italy Smith played for the full 80 minutes and scored England's first try and was awarded Man of the Match, an accolade he was again awarded in their next game against Wales. Smith was the highest point scorer for the 2022 Six Nations Championship.

In August 2023, England Head Coach Steve Borthwick selected Smith for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Throughout the tournament, Smith made his international debut at full back having seemingly fallen to third choice at fly half behind George Ford and England Captain Owen Farrell. Smith played at full back throughout the tournament including England's quarter final victory over Fiji, as they went on to finish third at the tournament.

In January 2024, it was announced that Smith was on crutches after suffering an injury. It meant that he was likely to miss the Six Nations tournament in what England attack coach Richard Wigglesworth admitted would be a "blow" to the team's chances. However he went to feature in the tournament. In England's match against Ireland at Twickenham on March 9, Smith scored a drop goal to end the match and give England the victory with a 23-22 score line. In the final game of the tournament, he put in another impressive performance off the bench. Having replaced George Furbank at full back early on, he scored a try at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais at England narrowly lost 33-31 in France after a late penalty from Thomas Ramos. Smith scored 13 points in a good win over Japan on 22/6/24. This included his 12th try in just his 31 st international.

British and Irish Lions

On 10 July, Smith was called up to the 2021 British and Irish Lions squad as injury cover for Finn Russell. On 17 July, Smith made his British and Irish Lions debut, playing at fly-half for the full 80 minutes against the Stormers. He converted all 7 tries successfully for a 49–3 win for the Lions.

Career statistics

List of international tries

as of 24 March 2024 12 on 22/6/24 V Japan

References

External links

• Marcus Smith at Premiership Rugby
• Marcus Smith at ESPNscrum
• Marcus Smith at ItsRugby.co.uk
• RFU profile
• Harlequins profile