Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent, Mike Tyson and Cus D’Amato, Morecambe and Wise. Sometimes the best things come in pairs and it’s impossible to imagine one without the other coming to mind. Whether coach and coach, wise cracker and straight man or simply a complementary match between two elite rowers, the special kind of synergy that existed in all of these partnerships would be missing without any of them.
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English rugby’s rays of sunshine have rarely broken through the clouds of late, with the national team winning just three of their eight games in 2026 after a traumatic Six Nations and the Prem clubs exiting in the first round Investec Champions Cup a solitary win in six attempts, courtesy of a Northampton Championship side.
English rugby’s secret sauce has been in short supply, but following the announcement of Steve Borthwick’s 36-man squad for training ahead of the Nations Championship, there is at least a glimmer of a chance to sprinkle some autumn magic dust with the combination of former Saints backs George Furbank and Marcus Smith Harlequins in West London.
It will be an uphill battle to make that new pairing matter. For much of the last 12 months, Borthwick has struggled to cement his historic preference for a strong party and strike game with an explosion of scoring attempts in the league on which his selections must be based.
Just a few weeks ago, England the supremo pushed for a review of referee interpretations in Prem at a meeting with rugby league directors; especially for increased supervision of the law of brakes in the conflict, and incentives for greater competition in the breakdown. Borthwick would prefer the league to follow the model of play he favours, rather than adopting the attacking methodology that has made clubs like Northampton so successful. If Mahomet will not go to the mountain, then the mountain, obviously, must come to Mahomet.
The Six Nations was a mix of confused messages for Red Rose supporters. England averaged 40 shots per game against Wales and Italy, but they ran against Ireland and France, with two matches averaging a massive 18 shots less per game. Instead of George Ford starting at number 10 in two kicking festivals and Saint Finn Smith running the show with ball in hand, Smith started in the kicking duel in Rome in the fourth round and Ford was chosen to run the ball against Ireland in the third. There was no evident continuity of thinking.
While that will undoubtedly change with additions for the second leg of the Nations Championship – Gloucester’s Charlie Atkinson, for example, has been called up following Finn Smith’s injury – Borthwick’s starting line-up also shows a clear regional bias, with four West Country clubs – Bath, Exeter, Bristol and Gloucester – with just eight players, despite finishing second, third, sixth and eighth in the 2025-26 Prem table. Two London clubs, Harlequins and Saracens, deliver nine between them, while last season’s seventh-placed club, Sale Sharks add six more. Two Midlands power stations, Leicester and Northampton, give the truncated team with 13 players.
The return from injury of Seb Atkinson, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Benhard Janse van Rensburg and Guy Pepper will help even the balance, but the absence of George Kloska, Ben Oban, Ted Hill and Billy Sela up front and Ben Spencer and Ollie Lawrence at the back is still noteworthy.
There is likely to be a direct correlation between the number of backs selected by Northampton Saints in Borthwick’s 23-man squad for the first leg against Australia at 8th November and the style of play he will try to adopt for the final stage of the tournament.
If the names of Alex Mitchell, Archie McParland, Finn Smith, Fraser Dingwall, Tommy Freeman and Furbank (late of Franklins Gardens) appear on the squad list, then Borthwick will be firmly on the side of a Prem-style attack; if only Freeman, Mitchell and Fin Smith manage, watch out – he’ll be back to the style of batting he was in November a year away.
One of the keys to unlocking the mystery will be the quarterback. If Freddie Steward starts, then set pieces and play will kick the day; if Furbank runs onto the field early in the proceedings, it automatically puts any of Smiths, Finn or Marcus closer to being selected in the 10 jersey. Furbank is one of those rare gems who makes everyone around him look better; especially, the outside halves with whom he combines so flawlessly in attack. His talent as an additional first receiver and his work off the ball are the essential glue in the multi-phase continuum.
It shows in the way Furbank talks about the playmakers he supports so well. Of his new Stoop partner, the colorful Marcus Smith, he remarked: “He’s a unique player.
“I think sometimes people take him for granted in terms of the player he can be. The things he can do on the rugby field – I don’t think many others can do.”
“Obviously he’s a huge threat with the ball in hand and he’s got a great passing game, so it’s just about trying to figure out what he’s going to do at certain times and then moving away from that.”
The first opportunity the pair had to play against together had arrived Sale Sharks in the third round of Prem, and the synergy between them in attack was immediately visible.
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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) October 26, 2026
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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) October 26, 2026
It’s not just about the accuracy of the handling skills, it’s also about working with the ball to get in a position to use them when they really matter. In the first clip, Furbank is first clear on the wide left side of the field, but in three more phases he delivers a money pass for a score on the right side.
Likewise, in the second sequence, he was involved twice in two plays to create a try for Smith, first throwing an inch-perfect long pass from his left hand, then appearing at first receiver to create a scoring chance for Quins’ little magician.
The pair started together in just two of Marcus Smith’s 33 England 10 appearances, so the combination can be labeled as ‘untried’ at international level. Smith arguably lacked proper support in that position, especially when Owen Farrell was thrust into the No.12 role alongside him at the start of his international career. Farrell’s dominant personality tended to overwhelm the youngster and unduly influence the game, even though he was not the official centerpiece of the team. It never seemed to work.
With Furbank in the Stoop, Smith has the right kind of character at his side: ready to fill out the DNA of the game without ever demanding to be the main man in the spotlight. The partnership proved its worth within three minutes of the opening whistle in the local derby against Saracens last weekend.
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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) October 26, 2026
Smith and Furbank start on the open side of the game and then move back to the closer side to provide the essential link for a lineout score, with Furbank delivering a killer load for another try by resident wizard Stoop.
As Quins head coach Jason Gilmore commented after the game: “Danny Care is a typical Harlequin, but I think Marcus is number two because of the work he puts in and the care he has for the club.
“He’s only 27 and he’s played 200 games for us. We’re so lucky to have him and we’re so proud of him.
“Everybody knows Harlequins – when we’re at our best we can play a really free-flowing style of rugby. If Marcus isn’t going to die in games then we’re in the competition.”
But even when Smith takes center stage, he needs a floor manager to take care of all the behind-the-scenes details, changing the scenery and flipping the light switches and greasing the wheels of the performance—a role that Furbank can play to perfection.
The duo combined for two runs later in the first half to effectively put the game out of reach for the North Londoners.
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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) October 26, 2026
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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) October 26, 2026
The first sequence is asterisked by a short alignment drop from two lines of Harlequins attack, allowing the firm of Smith and Furbank to create space down the right. The first man in the next wave of attacks? That’s right, it’s Furbank, carrying the Sarries inner defense into the teeth with all the enthusiasm of a much bigger striker. From the ensuing interchange, the twin playmakers return to their left to set up a try for England international Cadan Murley on the opposite side of the pitch.
England’s selection and tactics are still in flux as the second chapter Nations Championship approaches. To succeed in his bid to qualify for the North-South premiership final on November 29, Borthwick will need to find some well thought-out combinations that can do the job.
That may mean we go to the back – or as close to it as possible – but with Finn Smith in a race against time to face the Wallabies, the newly formed playing partnership at the Stoop could yet upset the apple cart. England have yet to see the best of Marcus Smith, the 18-year-old prodigy first brought to training camp by Eddie Jones while completing his A-levels at Brighton College, and Furbank could be the man to make the dream come true.
