Marchant set on England comeback after Sale arrival

Joe Marchant has returned to the Prem as part of a squad overhaul at Sale

• Published1 hour ago

Joe Marchant is still reacclimatising.

"I've had a couple of near slip-ups, which I didn't tell any of the lads, where I'm just saying the things you'd say there," he says of training with his new Sale team-mates after three years at Paris-based Stade Francais.

"You can feel the words coming out wrong.

"For a high ball in France, you'd say 'j'ai', meaning 'I have'.

"So I have had to style that out and turn it into 'Joe's'."

Marchant's immersion in French life was swift and total.

He won the most recent of his 26 England caps in the third-place play-off win over Argentina at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. He had been head coach Steve Borthwick's first-choice outside centre throughout the tournament, starting every match bar the pool-stage thrashing of Chile.

But, as England took a lap of honour at Stade de France, Marchant was straight into Top 14 life and the Test exile that accompanies it.

"It was a bit of a strange one, everyone was going home and for me Paris was my new home," the 30-year-old remembers.

"We finished on the Saturday with the boys [England] and I had the team photo with Stade on the Tuesday, so it was just an on-to-the-next mentality."

Marchant was the starting 13 in all of England's knockout games at the 2023 Rugby World Cup

Alongside the language, Marchant picked up plenty on the pitch during his stint in France. He feels he is a more assertive and communicative player than the one that left Harlequins. The Top 14 pushed him physically as well.

"It is such an intense league," he says. "Every weekend, there's someone who is at least 150kg who always sits out of a five man line-out, and you just have to get ready for that coming every week."

What's coming next in England is less predictable.

Borthwick has asked Marchant, like fellow Sale new boy Courtney Lawes, to prove himself in the Prem before any return to the Test fold.

"Steve and I have had a couple of chats here and there. Nothing crazy, but just a couple of chats," says Marchant.

"That was the main message. Get back on the field and play and see where we go.

"I want to play for England, that's what I want to do. I'm proud to have played for England and I don't want it to be my last time at that World Cup. I want to play again."

Marchant well knows how precious and precarious a Test career can be.

His decision to move to Stade Francais was partly motivated by a chat with Borthwick's predecessor Eddie Jones.

"There were those conversations just before the Autumn Internationals [in 2022] that I wasn't fitting the mould and I wasn't going to play in the World Cup," says Marchant.

"The Stade offer was a good offer that, on the back of the England stuff, seemed like the right thing to do.

"Then three weeks later, Eddie wasn't with England any more."

In the aftermath of Twickenham jeers and a Springbok defeat, Jones had been sacked. Marchant may have signed with Stade for the following season, but Borthwick was still a fan.

"Steve brought me in and we had a really honest chat about who I am as a player, my decision to go abroad and who I am as a person," says Marchant, of his 2023 return to the England fold.

"They were all really positive. From that, we just got pretty aligned. He knew what he wanted from me and how to get it. For me, I just felt like it was really good clarity on what I need to do to get into that England shirt."

Stade Francais twice reached the post-season play-offs in Marchant's three seasons in Paris

Marchant, a rangy runner with an excellent nose for an angle or support line and an impressive aerial game, is an intriguing addition to England's existing midfield options.

Sale, with ambitions to play more expansively after significant squad investment, will hope to provide a platform for both Marchant and Lawes to make their cases a year out from the next Rugby World Cup.

They begin at home to Bristol on Saturday, 26 September. The match away to Newcastle Red Bulls also looms large in Marchant's domestic calendar.

His wife Hollie is the daughter of former Newcastle and England football striker Alan Shearer.

"Yeah, maybe," says Marchant about whether his father-in-law will be down at the Corpacq Stadium to watch him.

"I think the Newcastle game in October will probably be more likely. It's a bit closer to Newcastle.

"Hopefully he's supporting Sale. If he's not, that's not really 'play on'."

Converting Shearer, convincing Borthwick, continuing a Test career - there is plenty to play for for Marchant this season.

Related topics

• Rugby Union
• Sale
• England Rugby Union

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