Joe Marchant on returning to Sale, French lessons, England ambitions and his new father-in-law
Joe Marchant, the 30-year-old centre, has returned to the Premiership with Sale Sharks after three years in Paris and on 2026-09-17 spoke about his time at Stade Français, his England ambitions and his new father-in-law.
Marchant left Harlequins for the Top 14 after the 2022 season and spent three seasons with Stade Français before rejoining English club Sale; his time in Paris followed a spell with the Blues in Auckland in 2020 and involvement with England at the 2023 World Cup. Alex Sanderson, Sale’s director of rugby, has praised Marchant’s qualities and Steve Borthwick, who worked with him after the World Cup, appears set to make use of his experience in both the Premiership and abroad.
Marchant admits he has disappointed teammates in one respect — his footballing in the club kick-about — and referenced the extra expectation since Alan Shearer became his father-in-law over the summer. “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.”
He says the Parisian lifestyle and learning French were important parts of the experience, and he has been teased for slipping into French in training and turning a call of “J’ai”, effectively “my ball,” into “Joe’s”. “It’s a beautiful city with so much to do and I really enjoyed learning the language. I wasn’t afraid to make mistakes with my French. I think the French lads appreciated that because I think there are a lot of foreigners who go over and don’t learn the language. But you’ve just got to jump in.”
Marchant credits the language challenge with improving his on-field communication. “A big one is my communication because obviously there was a language barrier there and you can’t be shy,” he says. “You have just got to be not afraid of making mistakes and you have got to pick it up on the run and communicate with everyone on the pitch and try to get clarity on what you are trying to say, I think that has helped loads. Here, there’s no translation in my head as I am going to call something. I am literally seeing something and I am able to communicate it. I know exactly what I’m saying and this is how I’m going to do it.”
Borthwick valued Marchant’s aerial ability to the extent he often played him on the wing, while Sanderson highlights his communication as a defensive coordinator. Reflecting on his time in New Zealand, Marchant said: “When I came back from New Zealand, the speed of the game was the big takeaway but there was also loads of space on the pitch. You have one-on-ones with people who can go around you, over you, do anything they want. The difference between that and being in the Top 14 for three years is that it is such an intense league, it’s so physical and you get bigger people.”
Marchant has 28 England caps and has made clear his desire to return to the international side. “I want to play for England,” he says. “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. I understand that you need to play against the boys you’re competing with, and I hadn’t done that for three years.”
He says being told he was not in Eddie Jones’s plans in the autumn of 2022 pushed him to move abroad, a decision he then discussed with Borthwick before the [2023] Six Nations. “[That] was the Eddie chapter. The Stade offer I thought was actually quite good timing then because obviously it was a good offer on the back of the England stuff, it seemed like the right thing to do. And then three weeks later, Eddie wasn’t with England any more. I picked up with Steve before the [2023] Six Nations and we had a really honest chat about who I am as a player and my decisions to go abroad and all that, and who I am as a person as well. And that was all really positive. From that, we just got pretty aligned where he felt like he knew what he wanted from me and how to get it. I just felt like it was really good clarity on what I need to do to get into that England shirt.”
Marchant remained in Paris after England’s third-place playoff in 2023 before beginning his spell with Stade, and he is now back at Sale preparing for his Premiership comeback while expressing his intent to add to his 28 England caps.
