Exclusive: Quins have kept the 25-year-old England fly-half by stifling interest from Bristol and French teams.
Marcus Smith, an England fly-half, has inked a new long-term contract with Harlequins that will keep him at the Stoop until 2028.
Telegraph Sport understands that Bristol Bears were among numerous clubs interested in pursuing Smith, however Harlequins have attempted to renegotiate Smith’s contract to keep him at the club into the 2027 World Cup in a boost to England head coach Steve Borthwick
Smith had advanced discussions with Racing 92 last year over a move to the Top 14, where he would no longer be eligible for international selection but would still retain suitors. During the summer trip to Japan and New Zealand, the 25-year-old was England’s starting fly-half. He will have a chance to keep the No. 10 shirt for the next autumn campaign that George Ford is likely to miss with a torn quad.
The departure of South African centre Andre Esterhuizen to the Sharks in the summer enabled Harlequins to allocate resources to keep Smith at his boyhood club.
Bristol and a number of other clubs remain in the market for a fly-half. AJ MacGinty, the USA fly-half, is out of contract at Ashton Gate at the end of the season as is Handre Pollard, the Springbok World Cup winner, at Leicester, who are interested in bringing back Wales international Sam Costelow to Welford Road from the Scarlets.
Ford is also coming to the end of his deal at Sale Sharks but director of rugby Alex Sanderson is confident the North West native will remain at the club. “He’s up for renewal at Christmas and we are in negotiation about extending to the World Cup – there have been positive tones, I might add,” Sanderson said.
There is less positive news on the injury front with the torn quad Ford suffered against Saracens set to keep him out for a minimum of six weeks, which would effectively rule him out of England’s Autumn Nations Series that begins against New Zealand on November 2. Ford had started all of England’s matches during this year’s Six Nations but missed the summer tour after undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon.
Sale are still waiting for Ford to see a specialist to determine the exact length of the lay-off and whether surgery will be required. Should Ford be ruled out then Smith will need to hold off his namesake Fin who has started the season in impressive fashion for Premiership champions Northampton. Borthwick is also sweating over the fitness of scrum-half Alex Mitchell who has no return-to-play date on his recovery from a neck injury. Prop Joe Marler and centre Henry Slade also have not played so far this season due to foot and shoulder injuries respectively.
However, there was a more positive development on second row Maro Itoje, who will miss Saracens’ Gallagher Premiership match against Exeter Chiefs with a knee injury which was described by Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall “as minor as it gets really”.
Bath flanker Sam Underhill, who has started every match for England this calendar year, has also been declared fully fit for the West Country derby against Bristol following ankle surgery.
