Fly-half Marcus Smith is looking forward to making many more appearances for Harlequins after bringing up his century with the men from The Stoop on Saturday.

It turned out to be a bittersweet day for Smith, who took to the field for Quins for the 100th time at the tender age of 22 in the 21-20 defeat against Premiership and European champions Exeter Chiefs.

Smith's passing range and ability to glide through the gain line with ball in hand have made him a fixture in the No.10 shirt since he made his debut, while still only 18, against London Irish in September 2017.

With 165 points so far this season, Smith is, by some margin, the top scorer in the Premiership and was named as February’s player of the month in the competition.

His form has led to many calls for him to be brought into the England set-up and he recently committed his future to Quins by agreeing a new long-term contract.

Smith told Harlequins' YouTube channel: "It's a dream come true, to play 100 games for this club.

"I was lucky enough to play one game in my first year for the academy and I've been guided by some brilliant guys in front of me at Quins - the senior boys in my first year and there are now more and more guys from my age group playing for this brilliant club.

"I've enjoyed every game so far and hopefully I can play in many more in the future."

Quins were left wondering about what might have been at Exeter, where they led 20-7 and had a Ben Tapuai try ruled out for a knock-on by Alex Dombrandt while 17-7 ahead.

It proved to be a turning point, as the Chiefs fought back and ultimately snatched victory thanks to Joe Simmonds' conversion of Dave Ewers' try with just five minutes left.

Smith said: "First half, we stuck to our plan and executed our plan very well.

"Our discipline was very good, in terms of managing the field - we didn't 'piggy back' them up the pitch - but then in the second half we kind of went away from that a little bit.

"We made a few silly mistakes, which let them back into the game, and our discipline fell off the rails a little bit, but we still hung on in there.

"I think it's a big learning curve to battle against these big teams, in Exeter and Bristol - we've got to play for 80 minutes and we played for 60 or 65, so it's not good enough, really, from us, but we'll look to kick on.

"We need to play the ref a little better, communicate with him a lot better and then [improve] our basic skills."