Eddie Jones warns England champion Marcus Smith of ‘poison’ from the media | English rugby union team

[ad_1]

Marcus Smith hailed England’s World Cup winner Johnny Wilkinson’s half-fly after a last-minute penalty grabbed a famous one-point win over South Africa in fantastic fashion. Smith was taught lessons in training by Wilkinson this week before he went on to kick the 80th minute kick to lead England to a dramatic 27-26 win, and avenge their 2019 World Cup final defeat.

Smith, 22, had only started for the fourth time in England, and Jones directed half the mercury fly for the big stuff, provided he didn’t get “too much poison in his head”. It was a statement that reiterated Jones’ latest warning about the pitfalls of fame, using the example of Emma Raducano to do so.

Smith finished the match with 12 points, assuming he performed kick-offs with Owen Farrell after ankle surgery. He revealed that the captain had been in regular contact this week but retained special praise for Wilkinson, who has worked on an advisory basis with England in the past and made his first fall trip to camp on Wednesday.

“It all comes down to him,” Smith said. “He’s been working hard with me, and once again, he put his arm around me and allowed me to explore on the weekend. I appreciate it, big time. We said four weeks ago that this was the match we wanted to target. The boys have bought in the past four weeks. We came so close as a group.It was a huge and huge part of our journey as a group of young players and beating the world champions in front of 82,000 at home was special.It’s a day I will never forget.

“I hit the kick and it was like slow motion watching her sail through the pillars. But we still had work to do to get the kick-off back. Winning the penalty kick and celebrating right at the end was amazing. This group will never forget that day.”

With Farrell doubtful of fitness for the start of the Six Nations, Smith is set to continue his role as England’s attacking captain upon his return to the field in Scotland next February.

Jones said, “Look, he’ll be fine my friend. As long as you’re a guy you don’t pour too much poison into his head. It’s work in progress and he’s going to get a little better in every game. I thought he did a great job but I know he’s going to be better in the Six Nations.”

In a thrilling finish, Smith’s kick was the fourth change of lead in the final quarter, with South Africa coming back strong in the second half. Jones acknowledged that England were “on the verge of collapse” and finished the match with 18 penalties against them, but preached his team’s resilience after picking rookies Bevan Rudd and Jimmy Blameer in the front row and losing Manu Tuilagi to injury in the eighth minute.

“Twenty minutes into the second half, I thought we were about to break down,” Jones added. “They were putting pressure on us in scrum, winning over 50-50 from high balls and starting to get more out of their attack. We went away a little bit in the first half but we knew they were coming back. They tend to win in the second half and we just managed to hold there and absorb The penalty and when we had the opportunity we were able to take advantage of it.As I said before the match, it is one match between the first in the world and the third in the world, and we are happy to beat the first team in the world.

Breakdown: Sign up and get your weekly rugby union email.

“It’s an important win but our stated goal is to win the World Cup. It gives the players a lot of confidence. They worked hard, enjoyed each other’s company and when they come to the Six Nations they will have a spring in their step. We were never bad. We had a bad team in the Six Nations but we We are not a bad team. We went through a difficult period in which we did not play well and are a bit out of date. We have modernized ourselves now and are going forward.”

South Africa’s head coach, Jack Nynaber, was martyred in the defeat, reflecting how the last time the Springboks visited Twickenham they were also hit by a solitary point at another nerve-wracking end. “We talked all week about how to do it [England] Ninabber said. “They had [eight] Players from the World Cup Final, we had 10 players so there are a lot of similarities. They played well and gave a proper test match for their fans at home.”

[ad_2]