{"id":773871,"date":"2026-09-17T18:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T18:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/773871\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T18:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T18:32:12","slug":"you-cant-be-shy-joe-marchant-on-french-lessons-england-ambitions-and-his-new-famous-father-in-law-rugby-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/773871\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You can\u2019t be shy\u2019: Joe Marchant on French lessons, England ambitions and his new famous father-in-law | Rugby union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Marchant admits he has been a disappointment. Significant developments over the summer gave rise to lofty expectations among his new Sale<\/a> Sharks teammates but the 30-year-old centre knows he has not lived up to them. \u201cWhen we\u2019re playing here, people expect me to be good,\u201d he says. \u201cWhy would it make me good in any way? I\u2019m not the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marchant is, of course, referring to his football skills rather than the rugby ones and the added expectation to perform in a pre-training kick-about after former Newcastle and England captain Alan Shearer became his father-in-law over the summer. In every other department, Marchant has done nothing but impress in his new surroundings.<\/p>\n

The director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, has been blown away by Marchant\u2019s qualities and after returning to England after three years in France with Stade Fran\u00e7ais<\/a>, Steve Borthwick seems sure to be taking advantage too. As we will soon discover, Marchant\u2019s spell in France might never have happened had Borthwick been appointed a month or two earlier but he regrets nothing about his time in Paris and it does not take long in his company to see how much he has benefited from it.<\/p>\n

He is always perfectly polite but some of Marchant\u2019s media appearances during England\u2019s 2023 World Cup campaign could be filed under forgettable. After three years in Paris, however, he is markedly more engaging as he prepares for his Prem comeback. He has been getting stick for slipping into French during training sessions and styling out a call of \u201cJ\u2019ai\u201d, effectively \u201cmy ball,\u201d into \u201cJoe\u2019s\u201d, but that demonstrates the level to which Marchant threw himself into the Top 14 and the Parisian lifestyle. Marchant\u2019s aerial ability was valued by Borthwick to the extent he often appeared on the wing but in Sanderson\u2019s eyes it is his communication as a defensive coordinator that sets him apart.<\/p>\n

Marchant celebrates scoring a try in the Top 14 playoffs for Stade Fran\u00e7ais, although they were to go on to lose in the semi-finals in June. Photograph: Icon Sport\/Alamy<\/p>\n

When it comes to identifying areas of his game that improved in France, Marchant agrees. \u201cA big one is my communication because obviously there was a language barrier there and you can\u2019t be shy,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have just got to be not afraid of making mistakes and you have got to pick it up on the run and communicate with everyone on the pitch and try to get clarity on what you are trying to say, I think that has helped loads. Here, there\u2019s no translation in my head as I am going to call something. I am literally seeing something and I am able to communicate it. I know exactly what I\u2019m saying and this is how I\u2019m going to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful city with so much to do and I really enjoyed learning the language. I wasn\u2019t afraid to make mistakes with my French. I think the French lads appreciated that because I think there are a lot of foreigners who go over and don\u2019t learn the language. But you\u2019ve just got to jump in.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are not many players at Borthwick\u2019s disposal who can boast years of Premiership experience as well as spells in France and New Zealand \u2013 Marchant spent part of 2020 with the Blues in Auckland and the pair have kept in regular contact since the 2023 World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came back from New Zealand, the speed of the game was the big takeaway but there was also loads of space on the pitch,\u201d adds Marchant. \u201cYou have one-on-ones with people who can go around you, over you, do anything they want. The difference between that and being in the Top 14 for three years is that it is such an intense league, it\u2019s so physical and you get bigger people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marchant in action for England against Argentina at the 2023 World Cup. He has not played for his country since that tournament due to playing his club rugby in France. Photograph: Beno\u00eet Tessier\/Reuters<\/p>\n

That variety should stand him in good stead and Marchant makes no secret of the fact that he wants to add to his 28 England caps sooner rather than later. \u201cI want to play for England,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m proud to have played for England and I don\u2019t want it to be my last time at that World Cup, I want to play again. I understand that you need to play against the boys you\u2019re competing with<\/a>, and I hadn\u2019t done that for three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Evidently there is a sense of unfinished business. Not least because, in the autumn of 2022, Eddie Jones made it clear to Marchant that he was not in his plans for the World Cup. It was the push he needed to commit to a move from Harlequins to the Top 14 at the end of that season, only for Jones to be sacked and Borthwick \u2013 who values Marchant more highly \u2013 to be installed.<\/p>\n

He went on to be a key member of the side who reached the semi-finals in France but when his teammates headed home from Paris after the third-placed playoff<\/a>, Marchant stayed put to begin his new chapter with Stade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were conversations just before the autumn internationals that I wasn\u2019t fitting the mould and I wasn\u2019t going to play in the World Cup,\u201d adds Marchant. \u201c[That] was the Eddie chapter. The Stade offer I thought was actually quite good timing then because obviously it was a good offer on the back of the England stuff, it seemed like the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then three weeks later, Eddie wasn\u2019t with England any more. I picked up with Steve before the [2023] Six Nations and we had a really honest chat about who I am as a player and my decisions to go abroad and all that, and who I am as a person as well. And that was all really positive. From that, we just got pretty aligned where he felt like he knew what he wanted from me and how to get it. I just felt like it was really good clarity on what I need to do to get into that England shirt.\u201d Three years later, you sense the same clarity has returned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Marchant admits he has been a disappointment. Significant developments over the summer gave rise to lofty expectations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-773871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773871","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=773871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}