Marcus’ ceiling is so high – Evans

QUINS backs coach Nick Evans believes Marcus Smith is not far away from England honours.

“It was another good performance from Marcus,” Evans said. “The ceiling is so high with him. He didn’t influence the game as much as he’d have liked in the second half, but it’s all learning and this was another step in the right direction.

“Marcus is playing well. Sometimes you’re just not flavour of the month, I’ve been in that situation. He will get it wrong like any ten but it’s all learning.”

Evans added: “Defensively it was a really good performance. We showed intent and aggression, especially when defending our 22.”

Sale DoR Alex Sanderson said: “All credit to Quins, they took their tries well. For 70 minutes we dominated territory but they’re the best in the league on the transition at the moment.

“We have to take our opportunities – we left a couple of tries out there – and if we’d been a bit sharper we could have stopped a couple of theirs.”