George Ford says England’s players have been teasing Marcus Smith about using rumoured interest from Racing 92 as “leverage” to negotiate his new contract at Harlequins.
Smith this week ensured he will remain available for Test selection for the foreseeable future by agreeing an extended deal with the 2021 Gallagher Premiership champions.
French club Racing, who will be coached by former England boss Stuart Lancaster next season, were reportedly lining up the 24-year-old as a potential replacement for Bath-bound Finn Russell.
“There has been a fair bit of joking going on,” Ford said of his fellow fly-half.
“Whatever the rumours were about Racing a few weeks ago, everyone was saying, ‘you were always going to stay at Quins, you were just using that as a bit of leverage’.
“I’ve spoken to him, obviously he’s delighted to be staying, it’s his club and the influence he has on that team is incredible so I’m sure everyone at Quins will be buzzing for him to stay.
“I can only speak for myself but when you’re English and you want to play for England, you’ve got to play for an English club.
“It means a lot to play at club level and international level for us all, it’s no different for Marcus.”
Ford and Smith are currently working together at England’s Surrey training base as part of a 39-man preliminary World Cup squad.
Steve Borthwick is fine tuning plans for the forthcoming tournament in France, with four warm-up matches scheduled next month.
The head coach was given less than nine months to prepare for the game’s greatest competition after replacing Eddie Jones on December 19.
While Australia, who subsequently appointed Jones in January, and Wales have also recently changed coach, Ford warned England must be the “fastest-learning team” in order to be up to speed in time for their Pool D opener fixture against Argentina on September 9.
Yet the 30-year-old Sale player also believes the situation could prove beneficial.
“I think we’re in a unique place in terms of that,” said Ford, who is preparing for his third successive World Cup. “It’s a great opportunity.
“In terms of the timeframe, we’ve got to be the quickest and fastest-learning team, it’s just the nature of where we’re at.
“At the previous World Cup, we had four years together and it was quite consistent in terms of squad, coaches et cetera but this is a lot different.
“I still think there is a massive opportunity here and one that I don’t think is going to hold us back if we get it right. I think it could be a massive positive for us.
“Sometimes, in a funny way, when you’ve got less time to get somewhere, you’ve got less thinking and less messing around to get there.
“You’ve just got to go and I think that’ll help us as a team.”
'Job not done' for Springboks after All Blacks triumph, says Kolisi
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi warned his team the job is far from done despite them rallying for a thrilling victory over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.
The Springboks secured a 31-27 win over the All Blacks at Ellis Park, coming from behind with two late tries from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Grant Williams.
The victory hauled South Africa onto 14 points in the Championship standings as they bid to end New Zealand's four-year stranglehold on the title, but Kolisi says there is still work to be done.
Addressing the capacity crowd in his post-match interview, Kolisi said: "We play for a lot but you people are our number one motivation.
"We appreciate you every single day. Please don't stop. When times are tough, please keep supporting us. We cannot do it without you.
"We respect the All Blacks. No matter what people say about them, when they need to turn up, they turn up. We believed in ourselves, we didn't panic, and we did what we wanted.
"They were catching us on the exit. After the first try in the second half, we picked it up. I'm really proud of the boys but the job is not done."
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett, meanwhile, was proud of his team-mates' efforts but admitted they had just fallen short of putting together a complete performance.
"Well done to the Springboks, it showed the class team they are," he said. "We weren't quite good enough. We were good for 62 minutes and it's an 80-minute game.
"There were two key moments after kick-offs where we couldn't quite get out of our half and they punished us. It was a huge effort, we're certainly proud, but it was just not quite to be.
"We'll regroup pretty quickly. Some guys have played here for the first time. It's intense and we'll have to be better next week."
South Africa host New Zealand again in Cape Town next week, while Australia go to Argentina for their round-three matchup.
Schmidt flummoxed by 'bizarre' Test as Australia downed by South Africa
Joe Schmidt said he cannot recall ever being involved in a more "bizarre" Test as his Australia side were downed 30-12 by South Africa in the Rugby Championship.
Malcolm Marx touched down twice for the Springboks in rainy Perth to make it two from two in the tournament but the Wallabies were hit by a swathe of injuries.
Front-row pair Allan Alaalatoa and Angus Bell were unable to return for the second half and scrums went uncontested after replacement prop James Slipper failed a head injury assessment.
The Wallabies even went down to 14 briefly when hooker Josh Nasser went off injured, though they did return to a full 15.
Reflecting on the unfortunate series of events, head coach Schmidt told Stan Sport: "It's probably one of the most bizarre games I've ever been involved in.
"In over 100 Test matches that I've been involved in I've never had a situation like that before. It happened so early in the game as well. When Slips got a head knock right after half-time.
"And then we were straight down. And then we played with 14 for a period of time before the officials worked out that we were still entitled to have a full pack because of the HIA.
"But I still am proud of the way that the guys fought their way through that second half. And the way that they stayed in the fight in the first half. It could have been, and I know it could have been as easy to say, but it could have been 12-11 at half-time and that would have been a massive lift for the boys."
Australia are winless through their first two matches, both against the Springboks, and will next face Argentina in La Plata on August 31.
Australia 12-30 South Africa: Springboks' late charge downs Wallabies
Malcolm Marx scored two tries in the second half to lead South Africa to a 30-12 victory over Australia in rainy Perth.
After a tight first half, the Springboks asserted their dominance to make it two wins from two in the Rugby Championship ahead of their meeting with New Zealand next week.
Noah Lolesio's penalty gave Australia the early lead, but they could not hold onto it for long as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu equalised moments before Aphelele Fassi latched onto a long kick to touch down the first try.
Lolesio slotted in two more kicks only to miss another on the stroke of half-time that would have given the Wallabies the lead.
They were punished for it after the break as Marco van Staden and Malcolm Marx twice touched down to maintain South Africa's perfect start.
Though it was a marked improvement for the Wallabies from their opening-day performance in Brisbane, Joe Schmidt still has work to do to get them ready for Argentina next weekend.
Data Debrief: Springboks extend Australian run
South Africa have now won each of their last three Test matches against the Wallabies in Australia. The last time they recorded a longer such winning run was a four-match span from July 1971 to July 1993.
Though Australia have suffered back-to-back defeats, they showed more of a fight. Last week, it took them 75 minutes to score, compared to just three this time around.
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