Steve Borthwick's selection call could cost Marcus Smith a Lions place

Telegraph

03-03-2025

Every Six Nations fan who is not Irish will be hoping that the French have the wherewithal to win in Dublin next Saturday. That is not anti-Irish sentiment, it is a natural desire for the excitement around the tournament's title challenge to go right to the last round. Should the Irish win, they would still have to beat Italy in Rome, but by that point their goal will be a Grand Slam, and their momentum would likely prevail.
The players will have the same desire but those from England, Scotland and Wales will have an additional motive for wanting the battle to continue to the final whistle of the final game. This is a British and Irish Lions year and, whether you can prove it or not, their natural suspicion is that an all-conquering Ireland side is likely to edge all the marginal decisions when it comes to getting on the plane to Australia in June.
Over the years, I have had the chance to discuss the way that selections work with various Lions managers and coaches and each tour is different. However, there are some points which all of them mentioned as being difficult to deal with and one of those is how you weigh what you see during the tournament and your thoughts about players pre-tournament.
How do you balance the maxim 'Form is temporary, class is permanent' against what is accepted as common wisdom that you must pick players on form? Do you favour an outsider's decent performances in a successful side over a previously favoured player who might have been unable to play because of injury? Does a good display in a poorly performing team show a player's talent or does it just mean that he stands out against a lower benchmark?
Has Borthwick compromised Marcus Smith's Lions prospects?
If we go to a few specifics, we need look no further than the looming selection conundrum around the fly-half position. If you wanted a less in-depth look at this issue, you could simplify it to: ' Steve Borthwick costs Marcus Smith a Lions place' – a harsh but technically true viewpoint when you consider the following.
Before the tournament started, based on past performances and the form shown in the most recent Autumn international series, most people would have had Smith as one of the three fly-half choices, with an outside possibility of him starting over Finn Russell. There was no consensus over Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley and Fin Smith, who most thought would scrap it out for the third No 10 slot.
If it turns out that Ireland win a slam and England take second place, there is a good chance that Marcus Smith – now England's full-back – might lose out altogether, with both Prendergast and Fin Smith being taken Down Under.
Fan forums chatter is very much instant reaction to the last thing seen and the fact that Marcus Smith was England's most creative force last year will be forgotten. The fact that he was considered the more versatile player and thus was moved to cover the absence of George Furbank will also be forgotten.
A top-two finish might tempt Andy Farrell to overlook the fact Fin Smith and Prendergast are still quite young and their experience is limited. There is no real doubt that both have talent, but we have yet to see whether this is capable of being sustained over time.
Farrell and his selection panel must carefully consider whether it would be the right decision to take two 22-year-olds in such a pivotal tactical position. Neither player will have more than 11 caps and Farrell has to be sure he can cover a situation where Russell is ruled out of a Test for whatever reason.
We will have no way of knowing if this turns out to be the case, but it would be ironic if Farrell were to prefer Marcus Smith over either his England namesake or Prendergast because he wants a player who can cover both 10 and 15 from the bench.
The one other common comment about selection dilemmas concerned injuries. Sometimes it is better to miss losing games, but that depends on you having the reputation in the first place.
Sione Tuipulotu is probably safe, but Furbank is going to have to do outstanding work for his club, Northampton, to get over the line and that presupposes that Farrell is willing to take into account post-tournament form in his decisions.
So, let us hope that the fourth round of this year's competition continues to excite and is better officiated than the third. Although there have been no egregiously poor performances, I think the standard in the tournament thus far has not been much better than average.