Marcus Smith has desire to be 'one of the best No 10s in the world' - Eddie Jones
Marcus Smith has been named at fly-half for England
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England coach Eddie Jones believes Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith has the potential to become 'one of the best No 10s in the world'.
The absence of skipper Owen Farrell sees Smith handed the kicking responsibility and will don the fly-half role for the Six Nations opener against Scotland on 5th February with George Ford making a comeback to provide impact from the bench.
Smith has impressed for England since his debut in July 2021 and has featured in five Tests and has already scored over 60 points. The 22-year-old played a pivotal role in Harlequins clinching the Gallagher Premiership in the 2020/21 season during which he finished as the tournament's leading points scorer with 286 points.
“I’ve got no doubt Marcus has the desire and the drive to be one of the best 10s in the world,” Jones said.
“This game on Saturday will be an opportunity for him to continue his progress. We just want to see him keep improving. And he’s going to have some bad days, we understand that.
“Looking up, what’s the opportunity, is it the right time, is it the right field position? And he [Smith] is a good decision-maker."
“You’ve only got to watch what he did against South Africa [in November] where against the best team in the world he was able to get us from our own 22 into their 22 to kick the goal to win the game. Where he made calculated decisions on when to move the ball, when to kick the ball, when to run the ball. And he’ll do that again on Saturday.
“And I’m sure they [Scotland] are going to come at him. They brag, Scotland, don’t they, they brag about being able to get into the psychology of England. So let’s see on Saturday.”
