Marcus Smith has revealed his ambition to play abroad in the future but has outlined ways to make the Premiership a more attractive place for England stars amid fears the Harlequins fly-half could join the growing player exodus next year.
Smith, whose contract is up in 2024, is the subject of interest from clubs abroad who have greater spending power than their English counterparts while the Premiership salary cap is trimmed to £5m. The 24-year-old believes enabling Premiership clubs to compete with their European rivals would help stem the flow of England players heading overseas, with Jack Nowell, Sam Simmonds, Luke Cowan-Dickie, David Ribbans and Joe Marchant moving to France after the World Cup and thereby making themselves unavailable for Test selection. He also pinpointed overlaps between club and country fixtures as an issue to be addressed.
When Smith’s contract is up for renewal, the Premiership’s salary cap is due to revert to £6.4m, and, factoring in additional allowances and credits, it is understood clubs will be able spend around £8.3m, a budget far closer to their French counterparts. Nonetheless, the current player drain is evident and is likely to affect Steve Borthwick’s selection after the World Cup.
“I’m still early in my career. I want to experience different cultures, I want to play in different leagues,” said Smith. “But I’ll do that when the time’s right, for me, for my family, for my girlfriend and in my development as a rugby player and as a person as well.
“If you look across to the Top 14 [in France], you see the dominance they have in Europe. For me that’s mainly down to the salary cap. If they’ve got more resources and finances to build their squads then they’re probably going to be in a better position to win those tournaments. I’ve never personally been further than the round of 16. When I was younger I wrote in my book that I want to win the Heineken Cup. To do that here in England is extremely tough and that’s a big draw.”
Smith also believes fewer clashes between Premiership and international matches would improve the fortunes of both club and country, and make the league a more attractive product. Due to an ankle injury and his international commitments, Smith has featured for Harlequins only seven times in the Premiership this season and negotiations over the next Professional Game Agreement are expected to address the issue of overlaps.
“I’m only able to play for England because of Harlequins,” he added. “It’s ironic that you play well for your club, you go away and you miss more games. Therefore, you have less of a chance to influence the club’s performance in the league – and on the training field, too, which is important during a long season. There are amendments that can be made. Speaking to other players across the league, they’re all desperate to play for their club – as well as England.”
Citing Saturday’s fixture at Twickenham against Bath – nearly 50,000 attended the corresponding match last season – Smith also pointed to the benefits of broadening the Premiership’s appeal.
“You see the viewing numbers in France rising,” he said. “The number of people watching games over there is a different level to us. There are avenues the Premiership can go down. I’m biased but I think Quins are playing a big part with games [at Twickenham]. A bit of variation in rugby, which is so traditional, might entice a different audience. That hopefully leads to better grassroots participation, an increase in the salary cap, better teams and hopefully European titles come back to England.”
Smith also addressed England’s disappointing Six Nations campaign in which he was picked to start in place of Owen Farrell against France, only for Borthwick’s side to be thrashed on a chastening afternoon for the fly-half. “Obviously I was disappointed, firstly, with how we went as a team,” he said. “And personally I was disappointed as well. Obviously the France game sticks in my head, as a bad one. Quins were very good with me in terms of giving me some time off, to rethink and look back at my game, look back at how I was at that time.”
