‘Combine him with Marcus Smith, you’d have the best attacking 10/12 in the Six Nations’
Gloucester boss George Skivington has endorsed former England international Austin Healey’s suggestion that Eddie Jones should pick Mark Atkinson at outside center to face Scotland in the Guinness Six Nations to get the most out of Marcus Smith at halftime. Before it was revealed that Owen Farrell had suffered another ankle injury, media pundit Healey called for England to choose an Andre Esterhuizen-like player at No.12.
“The closest option England have with (Manu) Tuilagi to replicate what Smith gets from Andre Esterhuizen at Harlequins is Gloucester’s Mark Atkinson. If you pick Smith you have to face Atkinson or Luke Northmore, the teammate uncapped from Smith at Harlequins, inside center. wrote Healey last week in his UK Telegraph column.
After Farrell was subsequently injured and ruled out of the entire Six Nations campaign following surgery on Wednesday, England boss Jones suggested what he could do to fill the vacancy. “We have other experienced backs. We can move Sladey [Henry Slade] in one place from 13 to 12.
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“It’s important for any ten in the world, whether it’s Marcus Smith or Finn Rusell or whether it’s (Romain) Ntamack for France that the twelve is a good communicator, takes some of the pressure off of the ten in terms of a defensive role, Marcus’ situation is no different than the other ten in the world.
While Slade is indeed an option to start at Murrayfield inside the center (he moved to No.12 just eight minutes into November’s win over South Africa following Tuilagi’s injury), Jones has also the form to look elsewhere. It wasn’t until last February that he opted to pick the unheralded Ollie Lawrence to play the No.12 role when Farrell started at half-time in the 2021 Six Nations opener against England. Scotland at Twickenham. It didn’t work out well as England were beaten 11-6.
However, with Smith, 22, now England favourite, having taken his game to new heights at Harlequins of late, where he had Esterhuizen. constantly creating a ball up front to help create space at club levelGloucester boss Skivington believes the No.12 shirt against Scotland is ready for Atkinson, the 31-year-old who made his Test debut in November’s win over Tonga.
“Mark is the best of the twelve forwards in the league,” Skivingon insisted when asked by Rugby Pass during his weekly press conference in Gloucester ahead of this Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership trip to Newcastle. “He can straighten the line, he can carry hard, he has soft hands and he can offload. He has a great vision of where the space is.
“If you want to play an attacking brand of rugby there’s nobody better than Mark Atkinson at twelve and if you put him with Marcus Smith you’re going to seriously challenge defenses because they won’t know where to go.
“He crushes people in D too, he’s a very good defender. Again, he’s the best English twelve in the league. I don’t think anyone else consistently does what he does and when he’s up on his guts he’s a game-changer. It would be very, very exciting to have him string together a series of games for England and combining him with Marcus Smith, you’d have the best attacking 10/12 in the Six Nations.
What kind of character is Atkinson, a relatively unknown player with the potential to be thrown into the whirlwind of the next Six Nations with England? “The thing about Mark is he’s a pretty relaxed character. He’s intense when he’s on the pitch but around the spot he’s a core member of that cultural group and he’s having a great time. He loves what he does, he loves being with the boys, he loves the social side of having fun with the guys, but he’s definitely grown inside of him over the last 18 months.
“He’s become a leader in the group, he’s more vocal than he was 18 months ago. He gets involved, helps lead the attack, he’s very vocal if the team has a problem or discuss something with each other. Getting that cap was well deserved. He deserves a little more and if he gets the chance, he’ll be great, but he [his Test debut] just gave it a chance.
“If I’m being honest, it probably made him realize how good he could be and the window is there for him, and Eddie is definitely supporting him enough to have him on the team and hopefully supporting him for The realization that he could be an absolute world-class player was just good for him because everybody knew that for a long time and getting that vote of confidence because he’s a bit older is just huge for him.
“He is very present, he is an integral part of this club, he is an integral part of the backbone of the team and if he plays more and more he will only grow. Again, someone like Mark, he can get better and better, I don’t know what his ceiling is.
“He got into top level rugby a bit later, he did some stuff in the lower league and worked his way up and he got better and better over the years. Like I said it’s seen massive growth over the last twelve months in the hard part of the game if you will and I still think it has more and more improvements to make which is exciting for Gloucester and exciting for England. . I don’t think his age really matters at this point.