England travel to Santiago del Estero this weekend with a scrum-half puzzle to solve. Alex Mitchell limped out of the 73-8 rout of Fiji after just nine minutes on the field, and Steve Borthwick fears the hamstring problem — a recurring one — has ended the playmaker's involvement in the Nations Championship.
"I don't know at this stage whether it's a recurrence of the hamstring injury he's had a couple of times already this season," Borthwick said, "[...] but it looks like he won't be able to be part of next week."
Into the breach against Fiji stepped Marcus Smith, shifted from full-back to No 9 without any specialist training there — and the switch caught the eye. Borthwick was glowing. "Marcus did a brilliant job stepping in at nine like that. He was super. Marcus played really physically in contact, in the tackle, and was so alive to the off-load."
Nobody enjoyed the cameo more than Ben Youngs. England's most-capped men's player was only half-joking when he measured Smith's 20-odd minutes against his own 127-cap career. "If he never plays nine again for the rest of his career, although I'd back him to play this weekend, he could go down for that 20 to 30 minute cameo at nine as England's greatest ever scrum-half," Youngs said.
His admiration was genuine beneath the hyperbole. "Marcus was the man at nine — front foot ball, the pack getting him on the front foot, scooting out, nice and square at the line. The skillset, the multi-skillset."
Smith, for his part, is comfortable wherever he is asked to play. "I played at scrum-half growing up at school in Singapore and the Philippines. If it was agreed with the coaches, of course I'd be happy as cover. I've probably played more at scrum-half than full-back," he said. "It's the same thing ultimately — make good decisions and execute your skills. Playing for England is my ultimate aim."
For all the intrigue around Smith, the practical solution points elsewhere. Jack van Poortvliet, replaced during the Fiji win, is Borthwick's preferred specialist and the likely starter, with Sale's Raffi Quirke called into the squad as cover after Mitchell's setback. Smith is expected to return to full-back, the role he has filled regularly, leaving his scrum-half audition as an emergency option rather than a genuine selection.
England arrive in Argentina in ruthless form after Henry Pollock's hat-trick against Fiji, but Los Pumas at home in the Nations Championship represent a stiffer examination. Whoever wears No 9 will need to be sharper than the depth chart suggests.
