Make no mistake... Marcus is the real deal and he won’t be daunted by his call-up for Lions
Iremember the first time I came across Marcus Smith, who makes his Lions debut against the Stormers this weekend. It was an A-league game on a Sunday and he came on for the final 10 minutes.
I was 36 at the time, edging towards the end of my playing days, and didn’t know much about the teenager who took the field that day at fly-half for Harlequins against Saracens.
But, straightaway, you could see he was confident and had something about him.
He was bold enough to try things. He seemed to chip and chase about 10 times in the short time he was on the field and there were a handful of grubber-kicks as well, none of which came off.
But if you don’t try things you’ll never know.
Marcus was a kid who backed himself. He’ll back himself today in Cape Town, too, when he figures for the side coached by Warren Gatland.
Because he is a youngster who has confidence, the key that unlocks all doors.
If there’s something on, he’ll go for it, whether the match is an A-league encounter on a Sunday or a game in South Africa for the best of British and Irish rugby.
Don’t expect him to run for the sake of it, though.
With the help of Harlequins attack and backs coach Nick Evans, who shadowed Dan Carter with the All Blacks but was a brilliant player in his own right, Marcus has acquired the art of game-management.
His kicking out of hand is almost unrecognisable from two years ago and he’s a leader, vocal and not afraid to speak up
At times, he’s like a midfield playmaker in football, running play to suit his side. He sees space in backfield and is able to play to the corners. If the game needs slowing down or quickening up he’ll do what’s required. And when width is needed he has the passing game and vision to help deliver it.
Of course, he’s still young.
And, of course, he still has stuff to learn — it would be strange if that were not the case at the age of 22.
But he’s a player you can trust.
If you are in a tight game that’s heading towards its final knockings you want your 10 to be making good decisions and executing well. Marcus will do that for you.
He’ll also give you that innate running skill as and when the time is right.
I have no doubt that if Marcus continues to tap fully into Nick’s rugby intellect, we are going to have an absolute rock star on our hands. I’d go as far as to say he’s a different class from what I’ve previously seen.
I said this year that if he was Welsh he’d have won 50 caps by now.
What I meant is that there’d have been a clamour among the Welsh public for him to be installed at fly-half and stay there. It’s not a bad thing. It’s the way we are.
In England, people will see him as a different type of 10 to Owen Farrell and George Ford and Jonny Wilkinson before those two.
People ask about Marcus’ defence. He’ll have a go.
Technically, he’s added extra strings to his defensive bow, working hard with Jerry Flannery, our defence coach.
It’s a statement of the obvious to say if you’re 5ft 7in and you have, say, a 6ft 6in, 18st Pieter-Steph du Toit running at you, then the bigger guy is going to have a natural advantage.
But Marcus is willing to put himself in the line of fire and he’s willing to tackle.
I’m looking forward to seeing him play this weekend.
And who knows? He’s the kind of player that prompts a coach to think: “Could we involve him when it truly matters? Could we play him on the bench? Could we use him to ask different questions of the opposition in the last 20 minutes and perhaps change things for us?”
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Gats went down that route when the Test series starts. He would cause problems for the South Africans.
But one step at a time. I’m just glad he’s had reward for his effort.
He’s someone who works hard and has no arrogance off the field.
On it, of course he has self-belief because that’s part of a fly-half’s job description.
If he continues to improve and keep his feet on the ground, which I’m sure he will, within 18 months he’ll be considered worldclass.
Sometimes you just know.
FARRELL HAS MONEY IN THE BANK
OWEN Farrell? As England captain, he’s always under a lot of scrutiny, even when he’s on Lions duty.
But he’s a class player.
How did I think it went for him on Wednesday evening? In an out — not at his best in the first half, much better after the break.
What he has, though, is money in the bank in rugby terms.
He’s been there and done it. Rewind to when I first came across him on the field. He hadn’t been on the scene five minutes but he was vocal and didn’t care about reputations. He was still the one barking orders.
A lot of people form an impression of him on the basis of how he is on the pitch, but off it he’s a real good boy.
I enjoy his company. He’s quite dry and funny.
Ultimately, he’s like his dad Andy, a competitive rugby animal through and through.
When Farrell junior made his Twickenham debut, it was against Wales and at one point he was screaming at Alun Wyn Jones to run at him, using quite colourful language as he did so.
He was only a young fella at the time, but he had the guts to call on a 6ft 6in lock forward and bring him down.
I thought: ‘Who is this guy?’
I spoke to his dad after the game and said: ‘Fair play to your son, he’s some player.’
He won’t have been happy with his first-half performance against
South Africa A, but he recovered after the break and he’s not going to let the Lions down if he gets picked in the Tests. But there’s a good challenge there for him with Daniel Biggar.
Whoever Gats picks will do the job.
THE GREAT ALUN WYN
IT hasn’t surprised me that Alun Wyn Jones is in South Africa with the Lions so soon after damaging his shoulder and looking out of the tour.
It probably would have surprised me more if he hadn’t made it out there.
If he gets half-an-hour or so against the Stormers this weekend, my guess is he’ll play in the first Test, and the boost to the tourists will be incalculable.
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