Smith: England must be more ruthless
Marcus Smith says England must learn how to close out games if they are to avoid repeating the string of disappointments endured in this year’s autumn internationals.
The Red Roses completed their quartet of November internationals at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium with an emphatic 59-14 win over Japan.
But Sunday’s nine-try romp in their easiest fixture of the four cannot disguise the failings of error-strewn performances which handed narrow victories to New Zealand and Australia in the final throes of games they should have had in the bag.
The inquests ahead of next year’s Six Nations championship will be long and hard for head coach for Steve Borthwick, but the magical form of Harlequins fly-half Smith will be one issue he won’t worry about.
The number 10 bagged seven conversions against the Brave Blossoms of the Far East, and was the fulcrum of the best moments in most of the games with his inventiveness and speed of thought. But the 25-year-old is very aware that his own fine form will count for nothing unless England find a way to control the final stages of Test matches.
He said: “The autumn did not go the way we wanted but we have taken a lot of learnings in closing games out. Hopefully in the Six Nations we can carry it on.
“It takes time. There will be pain a bit, but we have stuck together as a group with some experienced boys leading us.
“The biggest learning is how to close out games, be more ruthless, don’t go into our shells and finish teams off when they are there for the taking. Those small moments in the big games matter and we have to learn quick.”
The autumn was at least a positive time for Smith – who now has 39 caps to his name and scored 273 points – as it was for his Quins team-mate Chandler Cunningham-South, who made a swashbuckling impact and now has 11 caps.
The flanker started on the bench against Japan but came on after just a quarter of an hour after Sam Underhill had picked up a knock in scoring England’s second try.
Quins Prop Fin Baxter came on for skipper Jamie George on 53 minutes to earn his sixth cap. Alex Dombrandt did not feature this time but uncapped team-mate Cadan Murley was called up to the squad ahead of Sunday’s game, suggesting his time will come.
