{"id":814059,"date":"2026-10-26T03:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/814059\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T03:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:38:10","slug":"marcus-smith-produces-timely-reminder-of-his-class-as-harlequins-sink-saracens-prem-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/814059\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Smith produces timely reminder of his class as Harlequins sink Saracens | Prem Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marcus Smith celebrated his 200th Harlequins match in magnificent style. Perhaps there is a danger, at times, of taking his immense talent for granted, but he was unstoppable here. A powerful visiting Saracens side barely got a look-in, with Smith reminding us all of his ability on the day Steve Borthwick named his England squad<\/a> for a packed November.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s sensational running, distribution and tactical kicking masterfully controlled Quins\u2019 attack for a badly needed success. They were nought from three in the league and this was a vital result for reasons more important than Smith\u2019s personal prestige.<\/p>\n

Defensive discipline and forward muscle was as significant as the customary soft hands and creative vision. It is only one victory but the storm clouds gathering around Jason Gilmore, the head coach \u2013 and the rest of the club\u2019s hierarchy \u2013 have cleared to some extent.<\/p>\n

Gilmore paid tribute to Smith: \u201cThe work he puts in, the way he cares about the club, he\u2019s only 27 and played 200 games for us. We\u2019re so lucky to have him. He led us around the park and I\u2019m really proud of Smithy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saracens \u2013 despite the presence of Maro Itoje, George Martin and Ben Earl \u2013 struggled to make an impact, hardly helped by their indiscipline; Earl and Fergus Burke were shown yellow cards before half-time.<\/p>\n

Brendan Venter\u2019s rotation policy may begin to raise eyebrows: Noah Caluori, Owen Farrell and Charlie Bracken were doing shuttle runs 10 minutes before kick-off. There are not many clubs who would ignore players of that quality as a matter of course.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have chopped and changed, so I understand why people are asking that,\u201d Joe Shaw, the Saracens head coach, said of his side\u2019s obvious lack of cohesion. \u201cIt\u2019s not some random thing we\u2019re trying to be quirky with. We believe there is merit in what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Prem weekend had been characterised by stormy weather and old-fashioned wrestles at Welford Road<\/a> and Ashton Gate, in conditions that did not favour free\u2011flowing rugby.<\/p>\n

A stiff breeze remained but the appearance of the sun played into Quins\u2019 hands. Smith proved the point within three minutes, launching an attack down the left before capitalising on slick handling from George Furbank and Cadan Murley to sprint over. The crowd were on their feet. The tone was set.<\/p>\n

The prop Fin Baxter, returning from a 10-month injury layoff, soon demonstrated Quins are about more than silky skill, producing a muscular carry in the 22 before a delightful one\u2011handed offload for the openside Seb Driscoll, who smashed through the Sarries No 9, Tomos Williams, and over the line.<\/p>\n

The wing Rotimi Segun did get Saracens on the board with a fine twisting finish after the visitors worked through the phases into the Quins\u2019 22, with Martin, Rhys Carr\u00e9 and Theo Dan making inroads before Williams\u2019s looping pass to the left.<\/p>\n

But Quins, as if to prove a point, soon went to the driving maul at the other end, culminating in a penalty try and Earl in the sin bin for collapsing it.<\/p>\n

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Smith\u2019s afternoon got better when Max Malins was sent cantering over the line on 26 minutes thanks to more sharp work by Segun. The England back, hungry to make a difference at both ends, chased a seemingly lost cause and batted the ball out of Malins\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

Saracens\u2019 media strategy has been debated recently<\/a> and a three-word message on social media last week \u2013 \u201cTheir cup final\u201d \u2013 raised the pre-match temperature. Rather like Northampton\u2019s Henry Pollock and his embarrassing involvement in a scuffle at Leicester on Saturday \u2013 that only served to motivate the opposition \u2013 it was a provocative move from Saracens that seemed to backfire. Before half-time, Burke was shown a yellow card for an upright tackle on Rodrigo Isgr\u00f3 before Murley pounced for Quins\u2019 fourth: bonus point secured, 26-5 at half-time. Saracens had missed 22 tackles and conceded 10 penalties.<\/p>\n

On 55 minutes Quins twisted the knife. Williams flung a long pass out for Segun on the Saracens left where he knocked it on: Will Porter, the No 9, kicked ahead, collected and took advantage of some halfhearted defending to score Quins\u2019 fifth and final try. It was a ragged effort from Sarries and will be a horrible one for their post-match analysis.<\/p>\n

Tottenham\u2019s 2-0 win against Chelsea on Saturday<\/a> \u2013 another significant London derby \u2013 was distinctly un\u2011Spursy. Here was a heartening, notably un\u2011Quinsy, victory for Smith, the player of the match, and his suddenly resurgent team.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s brilliant isn\u2019t he?\u201d Shaw said of Smith, adding the derby defeat left him with an \u201cawful feeling\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe planned for him not to be that brilliant. He can pick you off. It\u2019s a disappointing day at the office.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marcus Smith celebrated his 200th Harlequins match in magnificent style. Perhaps there is a danger, at times, of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-814059","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\/814059","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=814059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}