‘Best to come’ from Marcus, says Jones after Twickenham heroics
Smith’s last-ditch drop-goal on Saturday saw England end Six Nations champions Ireland’s hopes of successive Grand Slams
Marcus Smith’s “best time is to come”, former England head coach Eddie Jones said on Wednesday, following the fly-half’s Twickenham heroics.
Smith’s last-ditch drop-goal on Saturday saw England end Six Nations champions Ireland’s hopes of successive Grand Slams.
The 25-year-old came off the bench to make his first appearance of the tournament ater recovering from a calf injury.
Smith has yet to cement his place as England’s regular fly-half since making his debut under Jones in July 2021 and has been criticised for a perceived lack of consistency.
But Jones, who began his second stint as Japan head coach in January and will face England in June, said “it takes time to mature” as a fly-half and that Smith will be “reaping the benefits of the experience he’s had”.
“Look at most American quarterbacks now -- they can play until they’re 40,” the Australian told reporters in Tokyo.
“We’re seeing the same thing in Rugby. Marcus Smith’s best time is to come.”
Smith had been expected to start England’s Six Nations opener against Italy until he was ruled out with an injury he picked up in their training camp.
He was hoping to step out of Owen Farrell’s shadow ater his rival for the number 10 jersey ruled himself out of the Six Nations for mental wellbeing reasons.
Farrell was first choice in the position at last year’s World Cup, with Smith converted to full-back.
Jones, sacked by England in late 2022, said fast-tracking Smith into his team was “one of the things that still I don’t know whether it was a mistake or not”.
“I wanted to change the style of England, I wanted to play a more aggressive, atacking style with Marcus there,” he said.
“It just didn’t fit the team at the time.” Jones returned to the Japan job ater a disastrous 10-month spell in charge of his native Australia that saw them exit the World Cup at the pool stage for the first time.
His first game in charge of Japan will be in Tokyo in June against England, who he took to the World Cup final in 2019.
“The only disappointment is we’re kicking off at three o’clock -- I wanted to kick off at the hotest part of the day, which is two o’clock,” he said.
“Unfortunately we can’t do that. We’re still going to have to make it hot for them.”
Japan are currently ranked 12th in the world, but Jones said: “There’s no reason why we can’t jump into the top four.”
He hopes to unearth the Rugby equivalent of Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese baseball phenomenon.
“It’s about how we can make young players be really ambitious in wanting to be the best player they can and create the next Rugby Ohtani,” he said.
ENGLAND’S FEYI-WABOSO TO MISS FRANCE CLASH: Immanuel Feyi-waboso will miss England’s Six Nations clash with France on Saturday ater reporting symptoms of a concussion.
Feyi-waboso suffered a blow to the head during England’s 23-22 victory over Ireland last week.
The surprise victory at Twickenham revived England’s Six Nations title hopes, with Wales-born Feyi-waboso playing a key role on his full debut.
The 21-year-old was a likely starter for Steve Borthwick’s team in the climax to the tournament in Lyon ater his impressive impact against title rivals Ireland.
However, the Exeter wing began to feel the effects of a possible concussion soon ater the match and has now been ruled out.
“Manny felt a bit groggy, so he is unfortunately ruled out of the game, but we don’t take any risks with that sort of stuff,” England atack coach Richard Wigglesworth said on Tuesday.