Marcus Smith: '10 per cent of myself was questioning my performance'

England star Marcus Smith talks about junk food, boy bands, and how he felt about losing the No10 jersey on the latest episode of O2 Inside Line: This Rose, which is now available to watch on RugbyPass TV.

Not afraid to show the other side of his life away from the rugby pitch, Smith invites the cameras into his home and strums out The Animals’ classic tune, ‘House of the Rising Sun’, on his guitar.

Playing the guitar is one of the ways that Smith likes to zone out from rugby and relax and the England star admits that the mental side of the game is one skill that didn’t come naturally to him at first.

“When I was younger I had a mindset where it was probably one size fits all. I read a few autobiographies where sportspeople were just out and out discipline. Of course, I am diligent with my prep, my recovery and my nutrition, and I train hard. But switching off the mind is important for me to save that emotional energy for the field,” he revealed.

“I am quite an emotional guy, quite an emotional player. The mind is so powerful in that and, therefore, I have learnt to realise that it’s a proper skill to fully commit to rugby and meetings and see opportunities and solve problems and then the minute you are home, I guess (clicks fingers), switching out of it and into the real world and getting outside of the rugby bubble.”

Music is omnipresent throughout, with Smith sharing his love of Prince and vinyl, as well as his thoughts on more serious matters, such as the controversial switch of position from fly-half to fullback, for the first time in his Test career, in the 26-25 win over France.

“Steve (Borthwick) told me early in the week that I would be playing there. Probably 10 per cent of myself was questioning my performance against Ireland but the more time I thought about it and spoke to my family and loved ones, I was just buzzing that I was starting again for my country, at home, against France – one of the biggest games of the Six Nations,” he said.

“And to influence the result from a different position was something I was excited about, and I tried to build that excitement through the week. And I was buzzing for Fin (Smith, his replacement at 10) as well on his first start. He played brilliantly.”

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Episode four then switches from one Smith to another, with Fin taking centre stage. As the orchestrator of Elliot Daly’s match-winning try, on top of a superb game all-round, the Northampton fly-half was named Player of the Match.

“For me, reflecting on my first start at 10, it was a mad game. I was pretty emotional during the anthems and stuff but I managed to find my feet by the end and, result aside, I was just happy with the performance. I was pretty special to get it over the line.”

While the battle between the Smiths is built up as a rivalry, the less experienced of the two players says they are in it together.

“Me and Marcus are very tight. We speak all the time. I think we see rugby fairly similarly, so I was fairly confident we were going to be aligned on that.

“The main thing he was into me about all week was, let’s not go into our shells. It’s quite easy to say we are going to do this and that during the week and then you go out there under the lights and you go a bit small and you start going within yourself. So that was his big thing for me, to keep being brave.”

Viewers get to see behind-the-scenes footage from within the England camp throughout the O2 Inside Line: This Rose series and it makes for wonderful content. It is just one of many series and one-off rugby-specific documentaries that can be found on the RugbyPass app.