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The biggest learning Marcus Smith recently got off Jonny Wilkinson
By PA
Marcus Smith is convinced he will avoid falling into the fame trap outlined as a potential pitfall by England head coach Eddie Jones. Smith took ownership of the fly-half duties during the recent autumn series that produced victories over Tonga, Australia and South Africa, but he was also cautioned by Jones over the need to stay grounded. The Harlequins playmaker is the rising star of English rugby and is expected to direct operations at the 2023 World Cup, but Jones is concerned by the possible “distractions” facing young players.
Smith, however, insists that his brothers Luke and Thomas will help ensure he keeps his focus. “I’m very confident about dealing with it. I’m very lucky to be 22 years old and have a brilliant team around me to support me and put their arm around me,” Smith said.
“Brighton is not too far from here so if ever I need an escape and a break it’s easy to get down there, eat my mum’s rice and enjoy my brothers’ company. It’s nice to have amazing people around me and I am really grateful for that. I hope my brothers are proud of me. I wouldn’t have done any of those things without them.
“They have both been truly supportive to me as well as challenging me, which I love. I still remember loads of times we used to go to the park and try to sidestep each other. They would mug me off or read my sidestep, which would frustrate the hell out of me. Again that’s what we enjoyed doing growing up.
“Those two guys are paramount to my career. They will definitely keep me grounded. After the South Africa game, they were laughing at my drop goal, so I have got to work on that. My parents will be protective when they need to be, but they will also celebrate with me when I achieve something that they are proud of. I have got a brilliant balance in my mum and dad and two younger brothers.
"Whatever happens, whether positive or negative, I’m very confident that they will guide me on the right path. Every single young player who has played for England will have had it at some point and for me, it’s about surrounding myself with brilliant people who are able to share their bits of wisdom. As long as I continue to listen to them and be open to their feedback then hopefully I can stay on the path I am on now, but it’s not a straight line.”
Smith was mentored by Jonny Wilkinson during the recent autumn campaign, completing two sessions a week with the ex-England great. “For me, the biggest learning I got off him was in terms of mental preparation,” Smith said. “I learned to deal with things that don’t always go your way, how to deal with things that do go your way and just how to live and how to be a good person.”
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Latest Comments
The only benefit of the draft idea is league competitiveness. There would be absolutely no commercial value in a draft with rugby’s current interest levels.
I wonder what came first in america? I’m assuming it’s commercial aspect just built overtime and was a side effect essentially.
But the idea is not without merit as a goal. The first step towards being able to implement a draft being be creating it’s source of draftees. Where would you have the players come from? NFL uses college, and players of an age around 22 are generally able to step straight into the NFL. Baseball uses School and kids (obviously nowhere near pro level being 3/4 years younger) are sent to minor league clubs for a few years, the equivalent of the Super Rugby academies. I don’t think the latter is possible legally, and probably the most unethical and pointless, so do we create a University scene that builds on and up from the School scene? There is a lot of merit in that and it would tie in much better with our future partners in Japan and America.
Can we used the club scene and dispose of the Super Rugby academies? The benefit of this is that players have no association to their Super side, ie theyre not being drafted elshwere after spending time as a Blues or Chiefs player etc, it removes the negative of investing in a player just to benefit another club. The disadvantage of course is that now the players have nowhere near the quality of coaching and each countries U20s results will suffer (supposedly).
Or are we just doing something really dirty and making a rule that the only players under the age of 22 (that can sign a pro contract..) that a Super side can contract are those that come from the draft? Any player wanting to upgrade from an academy to full contract has to opt into the draft?
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You’ve got the perfect structure to run your 1A and 1B on a quota of club representation by Province. Have some balance/reward system in place to promote and reward competitiveness/excellence. Say each bracket has 12 teams, each province 3 spots, given the Irish Shield winner once of the bottom ranked provinces spots, so the twelve teams that make up 1A are 4 from Leinster, 3 each from Connacht and Munster, and 2 from Ulster etc. Run the same rule over 1B from the 1A reults/winner/bottom team etc. I’d imagine IRFU would want to keep participation to at least two teams from any one province but if not, and there was reason for more flexibility and competitveness, you can simply have other ways to change the numbers, like caps won by each province for the year prior or something.
Then give those clubs sides much bigger incentive to up their game, say instead of using the Pro sides for the British and Irish Cup you had going, it’s these best club sides that get to represent Ireland. There is plenty of interest in semi pro club cup competitions in europe that Ireland can invest in or drive their own creation of.
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