I bought my ticket in support of the Harlequins fly-half during the Covid-benighted season of 2020-21 when his attitude to attack, and an inspirational ability to see the rugby wood for its trees, were combined with Quins jinking and smiling and surging to the Premiership title.
Do we conclude the journey has run its course, and even weep for the misuse of a mighty talent? Or has Smith been given enough chances and, anyway, are there fresh twists of the rollercoaster to come?
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It feels like a false equivalence as Smith is on 42 caps and counting, plus there are voices behind the scenes with England cautioning not to write his Test obituary yet.
Back in the summer of ’21, when Smith at the age of 22 lifted the league trophy at Twickenham, he also made his debut for England, and he was whistled up for the Lions tour in South Africa, all bright-eyed and floppy-haired, for some bit-part provincial appearances.
Could England have done more under Borthwick or his predecessor Eddie Jones to fashion a team to suit Smith, perhaps to the extent of installing a Harlequins-style team around him?
But England have never possessed a big, ball-playing No 12 like Andre Esterhuizen, the South African who gave Harlequins the skills of both bludgeon and rapier, and was therefore a perfect complement to the flashing blade, Smith.
Marcus Smith’s namesake Fin has the No 10 jersey and the favour of Steve Borthwick (Photo: Getty)
Looking through Smith’s England career, 17 of his first 18 caps were at No 10, some with Owen Farrell forced in alongside at No 12 in a partnership that did not click.
You could ask Richie Mo’unga, Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett of New Zealand what the phrase “first-choice fly-half” means after their similar wrangles and shifting around with the All Blacks in recent times.
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There seemed to be an upward lurch of the Marcus rollercoaster when he started at 10 on last year’s summer tour and stayed there in the autumn, but Borthwick had already expressed glowing praise for Fin Smith and his part in Northampton winning the 2024 Premiership title (an interesting parallel in itself).
Given that very few players in history are undroppable – think Antoine Dupont or Martin Johnson, and not even Jonny Wilkinson during all his England fly-half years, although he was in the middle period Smith is going through now – it may be futile to look for lessons in all this.
And then there is Smith’s persona within the England set-up. He was accorded a role of style icon in the Netflix documentary of last year’s Six Nations, oohing and aahing over a pricy Mercedes.
It’s not known if Borthwick frowned at any of this, but during England’s training camp in York last week, there was a tiny hint at a thumbing of the nose at Smith’s view of where he should be.
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Read MoreSinfield elaborated: “You look at how the game is played now and how valuable a second ball-player can be. Marcus’ big strengths are when he is in space. He is able to move laterally very, very quickly, so he puts defenders under a lot of stress.
Anything could yet happen this Sunday. With centre Henry Slade left out entirely by England, and remembering Smith’s shaky positional kicking from full-back in the 16-15 win over Scotland, they have recalled the left-footed Elliot Daly.
As for whether or not this harms Smith’s chances of selection for this summer’s Lions tour, it surely is a red-shirt herring. It may well be a bad sign for him, but England can’t select a player to make sure he plays for a different team.
If he is good enough to go to Australia, he’ll go. If he is with England in Argentina instead, he can lead the way there. Only if Smith is missing from that trip, or plays second fiddle to George Ford or Atkinson or Bailey, will we know for sure the winds of change have blown him away for good.
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