A star is born
The cliche goes “It’s all about getting bums on seats”.
I disagree.
It’s about getting bums off seats.
It’s about those sportsmen and women that enthrall with their talent. Off the top of my head, I think of Pele, George Best, Viv Richards, Shane Warne and Barry John.
See here – Barry John v England – courtesy of – YOUTUBE
They tend to come along once in generation and now I include in that list of greats Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith.
I now make a point of watching him whenever I can and in an enthralling match yesterday against Exeter Chiefs which Quins won 14-12 he was once again the virtuoso, the conductor of the orchestra.
The match was played in a rainstorm of biblical proportions and some of Smith’s teammates handled poorly.
There is no apparent weakness to the Smith game; his passing is so accurate, his tactical kicking astute and – when it came to a match winning conversion in the final minutes – he delivered.
He determines the pace and tempo of the game, sees the overall picture and acts accordingly with a darting run or cross kick.
The game did not follow a predictable Harlequins pattern.
Quins took an early lead but Exeter Chiefs levelled through Henry Slade to make it 7-7.
The key moment came at the end of the first half when Joe Marler was upended and “speared” in a dangerous manoeuvre once perpetrated on Brendan Driscoll.
The referee Ian Tempest red-carded Exeter’s Alec Hepburn.
The BT Sport analysts opined that Marler might have been ‘gobby’ beforehand and thereby provoked the incident.
In the second half Harlequins had four clear chances but muffed their lines.
All credit to 14 man Exeter who took the game to Quins and actually went 12-7 ahead.
In a storming finish to an enthralling game Andre Esterhuizen went over and Smith converted a difficult penalty in terms of place and conditions.
Although the foul on Marler was gruesome, the game replicating the two-point victory of last year’s Premiership final was a fine advertisement for Premiership rugby.
