Marcus Smith caught my eye for the first time at the 2018 Junior World Cup and it is not a surprise now to see what he is doing.
Back then he was England Under-20s fly-half, with my son James sitting behind him on the bench
I went out to France for the tournament, had a close look at Marcus’ game and saw flashes of brilliance.
There was plenty in his game to make the eyes widen. The hop skip and a jump sidestep was overused, but that’s just a young person finding out what works.
He already had an impressive range of skills and has since gone on to become a fantastic player.
His ability to predict a break, to track the ball and stay in play, is as good as anyone’s. It’s instinctive. It’s why he scores a lot of tries.
He can almost smell when the space is there. As he passes the ball he pushes himself forward into a position where he’s pinched two or three yards on most other people.
With every new opportunity he’s stepped up and I don’t see that changing today, albeit a Tier One southern hemisphere team is a big test.
His talent’s not in doubt. He is hungry and driven, decent and likeable.
All of which I felt made Eddie Jones’ warning to him about avoiding outside distraction clumsy and slightly offensive.
While I’m on the subject if Jones wanted an example of how you can derail yourself when you get too much too young he should not have gone within a million miles of the brilliant Emma Raducanu.
Better to have quietly suggested Marcus and other youngsters study the career of Australia fly-half James O’Connor. Never has James’ ability been in question, but for a long time his attitude was.
From what I understand he has matured since returning from playing in Europe and has been in fine form this year.
All of which makes for an intriguing head-to-head between him and Smith this evening.
England have a clear edge up front and providing Smith brings Manu Tuilagi into the game off his wing, as Leicester do so effectively with Nemani Nadolo, I can’t see past a 10-point winning margin.
