Farrell upbeat about Marcus Smith

Despite being in direct competition with him for the England number 10 jersey, Owen Farrell is appears delighted with the prospects of young Marcus Smith and seems eager to help the Harlequins playmaker in any way he can. 

To date, Smith has two international caps – against the USA and Canada, just before he was swept up to join the British & Irish Lions in South Africa. He did not receive a Test cap in the latter tour, however. 

Currently both in Eddie Jones’ England squad, Smith and Farrell appear to be bringing out the best in one another.  

“It’s his passion for the game that you can see oozes out of him,” Farrell said of Smith in a recent interview. 

“You can see even when he scored at the weekend he loves scoring, he loves doing well for his team and he is really enjoying playing at the minute so he wears his heart on his sleeve as it looks when the game comes around. 

“That is a massive asset to have, the immense passion he has got for the game. He is obviously a massive talent and a very exciting player. We have worked together before. He has been in camp before when he was a bit younger. 

“We shared a room together and things like that before in the past and it was good to get to know him a bit better over the summer [with the Lions]. He is a brilliant lad and he is not just a very talented player but a proper student of the game.” 

England face a couple of tough tests coming up in the form of Australia and South Africa in the Autumn Nations Series and much interest will surround Eddie Jones’ methods and decisions with regard to his pivots.