Marcus Smith’s duel with Sam Prendergast could define Lions hopes

When the two fly-halves meet at Croke Park, the result could weigh heavily on Andy Farrell’s selection

Sometimes players like to pretend they barely contemplate their direct opponent. That way they can neatly sidestep all external comparisons and inner doubts and concentrate on their own jobs. It is a team game, after all, and it never pays to waste time fretting about things over which you have limited control.

Every now and again, though, the “game within a game” duel narrative is unavoidable. Even if Leinster’s pack give a well-stuffed armchair ride to their young fly-half Sam Prendergast on Saturday his Harlequins opposite number, Marcus Smith, will still be expected to make some sort of impact. If not, his chances of being among the chosen few to tour with the British & Irish Lions this summer will recede and Prendergast’s will be suitably enhanced.

Should one single game shape selectorial opinion? Not usually. But this one is taking place in the cauldron of Croke Park where Irish sides have become mighty hard to overcome. Leinster have yet to be beaten there and no English national rugby side or club has ever prevailed at the towering citadel of Gaelic sport. If Smith can weave some magic there, he can weave it anywhere.

There is pressure on Prendergast, too. Anyone with eyes can see the 22-year-old has huge potential. But Lions tours are not developmental expeditions. As Andy Farrell made clear last week, winning the series in Australia is the be-all and end-all. Particularly as the Lions, for all the prestige and history attached to the shirt, have managed one solitary series victory since 1997.

So it’s game on. With the caveat that, conceivably, Smith and Prendergast could both miss out. There is Finn Russell to consider, obviously, plus Fin Smith at Northampton. Then there is Jack Crowley, also facing a daunting Champions Cup outing for Munster at La Rochelle. And still lurking across the Channel is Owen Farrell, back fit at Racing 92 and eager to make up for lost time.

No one who saw the social media clip of Farrell Jr roaring “Allez! Come on!” during his side’s narrow win over Bordeaux-Bègles on Sunday would subscribe to the idea that he is losing his competitive edge. The question is whether that outweighs his injury-disrupted season and the credentials of others still operating at Test rugby’s sharp end.

Farrell will also turn 34 in September, not old by the standards of, say, a latter-day Johnny Sexton but senior enough to ask whether potential involvement in two games inside a week remains practicable. The Lions have had some mature first-choice fly-halves – Dan Biggar in 2021, Sexton in 2017 and Stephen Jones in 2009 were all 31 – but guess the ages of the starting No 10s who have guided the Lions to series victories since 1971? Barry John was 26, Phil Bennett 25, Ollie Campbell 26, Rob Andrew 26, Gregor Townsend 24 and Sexton 27 in Australia in 2013.

You might say there’s a pattern there. Mature enough to know the game, swift enough to still be a running threat, young enough to be hungry for more. Which is interesting when you overlay that historical trend on to the current wannabe list. Unless you insist that age is just a number, only the 26-year-old Marcus Smith and the 25-year-old Crowley fit that template.

This really should be Marcus Smith’s moment. The Harlequin was called up as injury cover on the last Lions tour to South Africa in 2021 where he impressed plenty of knowledgable observers. Townsend described him as “one of the best attacking 10s in the world” and hailed Russell and Smith as rugby’s future. “I believe the game has already moved to an era when 10s have to be attackers,” he said. “I do believe their way of playing can win games.”

He has been proven right insofar as the sport grows ever quicker and the best fly-halves need to be a triple threat in their running, passing and kicking ability. What few envisaged, though, is the extra bench power of the top sides and its effect on big matches. It seems almost quaint now to look back at that final 2021 Test in Cape Town and see the Springboks opted for a bog-standard 5-3 forward split.

So, more than ever, Lions fly-halves have to be capable tacklers. Which is why Russell, a craggier opponent than his insouciant grin suggests, and Fin Smith will be in the forefront of Farrell Sr’s thinking and why Farrell Jr’s appetite for the physical fray will keep him in the frame.

It’s also why this weekend’s game in Dublin matters. Remember Bundee Aki skittling English defenders, Marcus Smith included, in the Six Nations game at the Aviva Stadium in February? It proved to be Smith M’s last start at fly-half for England in the championship, Smith F seizing the baton with aplomb against France in round two.

Two months on, Saturday’s fixture is a priceless last opportunity for the elder Smith and Prendergast to win over hearts and minds. The latter was outstanding against an outgunned Bristol in this same competition before Christmas and will be hoping RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett are similarly influential again.

Nor have we yet mentioned goal-kicking, without which no Lions series triumph can be nailed down. But first Leinster have to cough up the tries and penalties to give Smith the chance to showcase his sharpshooting credentials. If they can also suffocate him with ball in hand, what then? The Harlequins fly-half might theoretically be the right age but this weekend remains definitive for his Lions prospects.

Sign of the times

The last 16 of the Champions Cup should be one of the more gripping weeks of the season. One more win and a quarter-final place awaits. The pitches are firming up, the Six Nations has aroused public interest. And then what happens? Saracens reveal they will be resting their big-name England players, including the England captain, Maro Itoje, Jamie George, Ben Earl, Tom Willis and Elliot Daly, for their away tie against Toulon. Itoje and Willis are required to take a mandatory post-Six Nations rest week at some stage and, even if they win, Saracens’ reward would be another away tie at the defending champions, Toulouse. Their director of rugby, Mark McCall, has opted instead to prioritise the domestic league so, from Sarries’ perspective, the decision has some logic. But what about the wider tournament, the short-changed travelling supporters and the sport’s stated desire to sell itself better? The net result is another hefty dent in the side of what used to be the pride and joy of European club rugby.

One to watch

Never mind death and taxes. An even bigger inevitability nowadays is the kick to the corner when an attacking penalty is awarded, followed by an unopposed lineout, a wholly predictable driven maul and, if that fails to deliver, a prolonged period of trench warfare on the opposition try-line. It has become so routine it is easy to forget it is a relatively recent phenomenon, born out of the belief that even if no try is scored the possibility of a card for the defensive side and/or regaining possession again from the ensuing drop-out make the odds attractive. Surely the time has come to encourage greater variety? What if only penalties awarded outside the 22 can be kicked to touch with an attacking throw to come? Those awarded inside the 22 could still be kicked to the corner but, crucially, the defending side would get the throw. It might lead to more teams “taking the three” but would also encourage more flexibility of thinking and greater invention around tap penalties. If nothing else, it would help to make this prominent area of the modern game less formulaic.

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Memory lane

A decade ago in May, Toulon won an incredible third European title in a row, the first – and still only – team to do so. That day in 2015, Drew Mitchell won the game at Twickenham with a sumptuous solo score as they ran out 24-18 winners over Clermont. The Wallaby wing Mitchell, now 41, has gone into broadcasting in retirement, while the other try scorer for Toulon was Mathieu Bastareaud. Bastareaud, 36, is now the team manager for Toulon, who host Saracens on Saturday. Toulon’s kicker in 2015, Leigh Halfpenny, is still playing aged 38 for Harlequins, who face Leinster.

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