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.”
