Marcus Smith facts: Eight things you didn’t know…

While Eddie Jones has resolutely stuck by Owen Farrell and George Ford as his No 10s, Smith “would have had about 50 caps by now”, if he was Welsh, according to Adam Jones, Quins’ scrum coach and former Wales prop.

England are due to meet Canada and the USA this summer, as an incoming tour, and with Farrell away with the Lions, Smith must be given a start. 

Get to know England's next star fly-half with eight facts you might not know....

Smith was born in Manila in the Philippines and picked up the game at the age of 7 with Centaurs RFC when his family decided to move to Singapore, he learnt the game there before moving to Sussex as a 13-year old. He has two younger brothers, Luc and Tomas.

His Dad, Jeremy Smith lived in Hong Kong from 1992-97, playing for Valley and the national side at fly-half.

The naturally gifted playmaker received a sports scholarship to attend Brighton College where he studied maths, politics and business while going on to achieve great things on the rugby pitch as he captained the school's 1st XV en route to an unbeaten campaign.

At just 18 years of age and 200 days, he made his Premiership debut at Twickenham to become the youngest fly-half to start in the top flight since a 17-year old George Ford.

Smith turned down the chance to join the Team GB training squad ahead of the Olympic Games due to be held in Japan this summer.

Known to many of his teammates as Smudge, which is the traditional military nickname for anyone with the surname Smith.

He has pored over YouTube and asked Harlequins analysts for footage of Dan Carter’s stint at Japanese club Kobelco Steelers between 2018 and 2020.

On 2 June 2019 Smith made his England XV debut against the Barbarians. During the game, Smith contributed 26 points which included his first try for the full team. The final score was 51-43 to England. Smith was awarded Man of the Match for his outstanding performance.