Joe Marchant Eyes England Return With Sale Sharks
The Sale Sharks centre reflects on his three years at Stade Français, adapting to French life, and Steve Borthwick's interest in recalling him to England.
"When we're playing here, people expect me to be good," he says. "Why would it make me good in any way? I'm not the best."
The centre is talking about football, not the game that pays his wages. His new father-in-law is Alan Shearer, the former Newcastle and England captain, who became part of the family over the summer.
Away from that, the 30-year-old has given Sale Sharks little to complain about since arriving back in England. The director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, has been impressed by what Marchant has brought to the squad, and Steve Borthwick looks ready to bring him back into the England fold now that his three years at Stade Français in Paris are over. Marchant admits that switch to France might never have happened had Borthwick taken the England job a month or two earlier than he did, but he has no regrets about the time he spent there.
It shows in how he talks about it. His media duties during England's 2023 World Cup campaign were unremarkable; three years on, he speaks with far more ease about his time in the Top 14 and life in Paris. Teammates have ribbed him for slipping into French at training, and for turning a call of "J'ai" — "my ball" — into "Joe's". Borthwick valued his aerial game enough to play him on the wing in France.
Marchant's return gives Sanderson a centre to build around as that competition, and the season proper, gathers pace.
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