Jones warns Smith: Do not become distracted by fame ‘like Raducanu’
England head coach wants young fly-half to stay grounded Australian faces selection dilemma against native country
Eddie Jones has warned English rugby’s golden boy, Marcus Smith, against falling into the same traps that have derailed tennis player Emma Raducanu’s momentum since the teenager won the US Open in sensational fashion.
On Saturday, Smith came off the bench to thunderous acclaim at Twickenham and the Harlequins playmaker lived up to the hype with a sparkling 28-minute cameo in the 11-try victory over Tonga.
His performance will only increase the clamour for Jones to start Smith at fly-half against Australia on Saturday.
Yet the England head coach cautioned against Smith’s new-found fame going to his head, citing the example of Raducanu, who has lost two of her four matches since her triumph at Flushing Meadows in September.
“The big thing for good young players is distractions,” Jones said. “The distractions could be the exposure they get in the media, the praise they get, the criticism they get. There can be groups of agents who see this guy as the next big thing.
“There’s a reason why the young girl who won the US Open hasn’t done so well afterwards. What have you seen her on – the front page of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar or whatever, wearing Christian Dior clothes. All that is a distraction around her.”
Jones first spotted Smith six years ago when he was Japan head coach and Smith was playing for Brighton College. An invite to join the England
squad as an “apprentice” followed shortly afterwards but until this autumn at least Jones has seemed reluctant to fully trust Smith, in part because he is fearful of the pitfalls of celebrity.
“He is grounded, but they all start out grounded,” Jones said. “No one starts with their feet off the ground or they don’t get in the team and they don’t win a US Open. They all start grounded, but there are a flood of distractions which come in, which can make them ungrounded.
“It might not be to that degree with Marcus, but potentially it could be. So the guidance we can give him when he’s with us, the guidance that he gets from Quins and the guidance he gets from his parents – who I know, fortunately, are very good people – will be important, so he can keep his feet on the ground and keep impressing as a rugby player.”
The confirmation of Owen Farrell’s availability for the Australia match following his false positive for Covid-19 poses a striking selection dilemma for Jones, who previously stated that he wanted to partner his captain with Smith in the midfield.
An excellent performance by the centre pairing of Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade does not leave an obvious fall guy, but Jones is happy to pick from a position of strength.
“If we have got options to select from, then that’s fantastic, and we want to have those options,” he said. “We have got Owen, potentially to come back in the mix.”
Last night Jones announced a 34-man squad to face Australia, with only injured Harlequins wing Louis Lynagh absent. Jones boasts an unbeaten record as England head coach against Australia, the country of his birth, but warned that the Wallabies are no pushover under Dave Rennie. He is expecting a ferocious battle, especially with the threat of flanker Michael Hooper at the breakdown.
“The breakdown against Australia is going to be brutal,” Jones said. “Rennie’s teams are always renowned for being exceptional at the breakdown, so we are lucky we have got the best referee in the world next Saturday in Jaco Peyper who is particularly very good in that breakdown area, so we are going to get a great contest.
“We don’t get a head start from being ahead 7-0 against them. They all start 0-0, they are a very well coached team, a few of their senior players like Hooper are playing exceptionally well.
“Nic White is playing exceptionally well and they have got a lot of talented youngsters coming through and they have won, I think, their past five Tests [before Scotland]. They haven’t won five Tests in a row in a long time, which is a good indication of how they’re progressing and how the team’s progressing under Dave Rennie.”
Smith is an ideal fly-half to lead a change in England’s mindset