Marcus Smith has golden chance to seize England fly-half job but punishing season takes toll

Marcus Smith will be buoyed by his biggest England chance yet against Japan on Saturday, only to be weighed down by his punishing 13-month season.

The Harlequins star has won first refusal on England’s No 10 shirt for the summer, selected ahead of Northampton’s Premiership champion and namesake Fin to face the Brave Blossoms in Tokyo.

The Smiths are England’s charming fly-half men on tour to Japan and New Zealand, with George Ford sidelined through Achilles trouble and Owen Farell’s 112-cap tenure at an end. Quins’ Smith has waited his whole young career for an opportunity like this, an open invitation to make the England fly-half role his own.

That the 24-year-old must seize his moment on little more than fumes and adrenaline only serves to underscore rugby’s year-round folly.

Former Brighton College pupil Smith started his 2023-24 season by joining England’s first World Cup training camp on June 12, 2023. His season of seasons will finally finish with England’s second Test against New Zealand, in Auckland, on July 13.

His relentless campaign will reach a ridiculous 14th month at the near-impenetrable Eden Park fortress, ending with two matches against the feared and revered All Blacks. There is indeed a light that never goes out, and, sadly, that flame is likely to lead some of rugby’s top stars to unnecessary and damaging burnout.

Rugby bosses champion player welfare in any possible soundbite, then go ahead and schedule more matches. There is a clear absurdity in Smith being tasked with summoning new reserves of sharpness for a career- defining performance on Saturday. After all his exertions, if he were to appear leggy, tired or even mentally fatigued, he would not be to blame.

Let us hope England head coach Steve Borthwick appraises any performance in such context. Although, with two Tests against the ever-excellent All Blacks next month, there is no let-up.

England have built a week’s preparation time in New Zealand with no match into their summer tour. They could do with a month.

Fin Smith has starred by developing an impressive all-court game for Northampton this season. The 22-year-old missed out on selection for the World Cup, then made his Test debut in the Six Nations.

There is every chance he could jump ahead of Marcus Smith on this tour, even in part because of his extra freshness. Both Smiths would reject that idea, but rugby’s quality will suffer unless it limits the quantity.

Forget the notional idea of moving from the winter for summer rugby — the seasons have disappeared in a blur of big hits. This weekend, England will get to work for a sport that almost never sleeps. Across the globe, elite rugby players are trying to take more control of their careers. This is as much to do with rest and recuperation as it is pay.

England’s players have set up their own company to negotiate new pay deals with the Rugby Football Union. The Rugby Players’ Association used to handle those, but the RFU are for the first time offering direct contracts to England players, to top up club deals.

In New Zealand, the players have taken even more drastic action, threatening a full breakaway from their players’ union and launching all but a civil war. Maro Itoje is likely to bust his season’s playing minutes limit on this summer tour, except England insist he is not.

Saracens lock Itoje ought to push past his top-line match minute threshold in the next month, except England say that limit can rise if certain conditions are met in training and elsewhere.

The specific criteria that warrant a raising have not been detailed. Rugby loves pomp and ceremony so much that it is time the sport remembered its scriptures: to everything there is a season.