ON THE BLINDSIDE

Marcus Smith staying with Harlequins beyond the final year of his contract, which ends next summer, moved a step closer after Top 14 giants Racing 92 called off talks.
Blindside revealed in May that the England fly-half visited Racing’s state-of-the-art training facility, Plessis Robinson, for talks about a potential switch to the French capital.
Smith, 24, earns £400,000 a season with Quins plus £25,000 every time he plays for England, but Racing were only prepared to offer around €500,000 (£425,00) for him to leave The Twickenham Stoop.
But they have now decided that the...