{"id":186424,"date":"2025-10-08T21:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T21:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/186424\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T21:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T21:29:10","slug":"marcus-smith-compared-to-wallabies-legend-ahead-of-derby-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/186424\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Smith compared to Wallabies legend ahead of derby return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marcus Smith will return for Harlequins<\/a> against Saracens<\/a> on Sunday, billed as the Prem\u2019s nearest equivalent to Quade Cooper.<\/p>\n

Smith has cut a frustrated figure on the sidelines on enforced stand-down after the British and Irish Lions<\/a> tour, as Quins have opened up with successive defeats.<\/p>\n

But Harlequins\u2019 boss Jason Gilmore has confirmed the 26-year-old will be back in business in the London derby as he pulls the No.10 jersey back on in what is a much-needed shot in the arm for the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge for us,\u201d said the Australian. \u201cHe\u2019s our quarterback. He\u2019s our guy. He\u2019s a British Lion. He loves playing for Quins. He loves playing at the Stoop.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the energy and the confidence that he brings to the other boys. When you sit in the dressing room and Smithy\u2019s in there, you definitely get a boost.<\/p>\n

\u201cI coached Quade Cooper<\/a> at the Reds, and I think they\u2019re both very similar. Some people call them mavericks, but they\u2019ve just got that genuine point of difference. They see the game quicker than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got a great skillset but they\u2019ve also got such a good running game as well. Smithy\u2019s speed across ten metres is just as quick as their outside backs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of comparisons between Quade and Marcus.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Head-to-Head <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last 5 Meetings<\/p>\n

Average Points scored<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the entertainment business and when you\u2019re up against football or rugby league, that sort of thing, people want to be entertained. There\u2019s nothing better than seeing The Stoop bouncing and Smithy in the middle of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilmore predicts that English rugby will see an improved version of Smith this season, having absorbed the lessons from what was, personally, a mixed Lions tour.<\/p>\n

While Smith featured off the bench in the first Test, he lost his place for the remaining two Tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s brought some really good learnings back from the Lions,\u201d said Gilmore. \u201cYou can see a lot more maturity in his off-field preparation. His video work and his getting ready for sessions, I certainly think that\u2019s been improved and I think that\u2019s purely a case of the people that he spent three months with at the Lions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t played in a while. It\u2019ll probably take him two or three weeks just to get his own rhythm and get his combination with the boys back again. So we just let Smithy be himself and the other boys have to play their role to help him as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2019s like a fly in a bottle. He\u2019s probably wanted to play the last few weeks, so he\u2019s been bouncing around at training. He\u2019s as keen as mustard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilmore confirmed that Smith will be used exclusively as a fly-half by Quins, whatever Steve Borthwick\u2019s thoughts are on him as a full-back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has obviously got bounced positionally a little bit at 10 and 15 and we\u2019re reflected back on that at Quins \u2013 whether we could put Jarrod (Evans) to 10 and Marcus to 15, whether that was the best option,\u201d said Gilmore.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we made the decision at the end of last year that Smithy is our 10, so we don\u2019t want to be bouncing him. We want to support him as best we can so he can play well for club, but also put his best foot forward for England<\/a> as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harlequins are also set to be boosted this weekend by the return of England wing Cadan Murley<\/a>, who missed last week\u2019s game at Leicester.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marcus Smith will return for Harlequins against Saracens on Sunday, billed as the Prem\u2019s nearest equivalent to Quade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-186424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}