"If Marcus Smith gets the praise and I don't that's fine - it doesn't bother me at all"

Marcus Smith is the darling of English rugby and central to all things Harlequins – and his half-back partner Will Porter is more than happy to play the quiet supporting act.

The scrum-half is just one of a number of success stories to come from the tragic demise of three Premiership clubs. The Wasps academy graduate was left looking for a job a little over 18 months ago when the historic outfit went out of business.

A cameo at Bristol Bears caught the eye of those at Harlequins and Porter is now making a name for himself back in the city where he was born. He’s gone from north London to south west London and is more than holding his own alongside the most electric fly-half on English shores.

Smith is the headline act, the man with the highlight reel. Porter is the man tasked with supplying him with the right platform, yet prepared to go shine in his own way. The 25-year-old scored two of Harlequins’ six tries in their historic win over Bordeaux at the weekend, but has no issue with the spotlight being fixed on his fly-half.

He told Mirror Sport: “From a training perspective he’s great, as well as during a game. Maybe during a game he might be more vocal, but he’s very straight forward and decisive. He’s not shouting, he’s not demanding, he’s very calm so he’s great to play with. My impact, I know it might not be flashy but I take as much pride in connecting the backs and the forwards.

“We might score a worldie try from the 22, but I’ll take as much pride in a 22.phase move. I understand the role of any No 9 is to feed their 10 good ball. If people want to praise Marcus that’s fine – and if they don’t want to praise me that’s fine – it doesn’t bother me at all.”

Smith is the face of the club, as is Danny Care, who recently retired from England to focus on his club exploits having turned 37 earlier this year. In his 18 years with Quins, Care has had a host of understudies having been the man who commands the No 9 jersey.

Porter is now the man jockeying with him for position. The pair seem to be the definition of positive competition as they push each other on with the junior member of the duo labelling Care as “laid back but in a detailed way”. At times this year Care has been the man on the bench watching Porter do his thing. But the former Wasps man doesn’t want to be given any hand me downs, instead he wants to leapfrog Care in the pecking order on merit, adamant that the team will thrive as a result.

He said: “He doesn’t want me to take over, that’s the same as any rugby player, he wants to compete. He has respect for those who he competes against. He understands that one day he’ll have to stop, but he’s very motivated to go all the way until the end, as he should be.

The scrum-half has been able to showcase his individual quality, scoring twice in the historic win in Bordeaux

“And I’m very aware that I want to start. We’ve never had any arguments on the field because we know that the team comes first, and if we compete against each other really hard that will benefit the team. In his mind he wants to start until the day he retires and I wouldn’t expect anything less. I wouldn’t want him to tell me to start, that would be him giving it to me. I think that’s the way every position works in any team. But he might just keep going, he might never retire, but he’s great to have around.”

Porter, alongside the likes of Jack Willis, Tom Willis and Joe Launchbury, saw their worlds come crashing down when Wasps went under late in 2022. There is often talk of a new-found appreciation for employment for the players whose careers hung in the balance.

Speculation was rife that Wasps were in difficulty, but the club assured their players and staff there was nothing to worry about. Porter admits, with hindsight, they were naive not to see the warning signs, especially with Worcester falling before them.

“Looking back on it we should’ve seen it coming,” he admits. “Were we told about what was happening to the extent? No. Were we told not to listen to the media? Yes. Were we naive in not listening to everyone? Yes. We knew something was up but no one in that room expected to be told that news. We literally played the week before and that Wednesday we were told we were going to Exeter, then after training we were told the game was off.

“Should’ve probably been a red flag, then had a meeting on Monday and were told it was done. Looking back now, we should’ve seen it coming, but being in that bubble, training and preparing for Exeter, you just didn’t see it.”

Porter himself was fortunate. Two days after Wasps were no more Bristol’s Director of Rugby Pat Lam was on the phone. Within a fortnight the scrum-half was playing again. Others weren’t so lucky. “A lot of players were running by themselves on fields for a couple of months,” said the Quins star.

Will Porter came through the ranks at Wasps and was one of a number of players left looking for work after the club’s collapse

He and his flatmate Sam Spink, a powerful centre, had been discussing how to get out of their lease on the flat they had together. Spink had to head Down Under to find employment with the Western Force. He will return to English shores and play for Saracens next season, but a spell in Australia was never on Porter’s agenda.

“Do I regret it? No, I managed to play more in the Premiership which is the most competitive league and made me a better player. If I went to Australia, for starters I don’t do well in the sun, but who knows. I might’ve come back ten times the player, I might’ve fallen in love with Australia and never come back. But am I jealous of seeing Sam Spink on the beach on Instagram every weekend? Yes!”

Porter always had ambitions to eventually move back to London and had half an eye of maybe making Quins his home at some point. Looking from afar he saw them as a class outfit to play for. He admits the reality is even surpassing the lofty expectations he had.

Quins are sat in the top four of the Premiership with the business end of the season in sight. Their historic win in Bordeaux in last weekend’s European Cup quarter-final has set up a semi-final against the continent’s most successful outfit Toulouse at the end of the month. When they’re on song, the south west Londoners are a match for anyone.

Players wouldn’t be human if they hadn’t dared to dream. Focus remains fully on Sale Sharks this weekend with the Premiership having four games to go until the play-offs. A European Cup semi-final is on the horizon though and Porter admits the team, in ways, even surprised themselves with the heights they reached.

“We haven’t spoken about it as as group, maybe people have spoken about it individually after proving what we could do,” he said. “I think we almost shocked ourselves (by beating Bordeaux). We kept saying we believe, we believe, but when the final whistle blew we were like ‘wow’ and I think that has driven us on to think ‘what if…why couldn’t it be us?'”