Marcus Smith names the ‘special’ player every fly half should use as their ‘benchmark’

The fly half is arguably the most important position on the rugby pitch and one that will be incredibly familiar to Marcus Smith.

Teams may opt to run everything through this position, with several coaches trusting the fly-half to execute the gameplan on the field, with many players who operate in this position being the most tactically aware and skilful in a side.

England fans have been blessed to have watched some incredible players operating in this position, including Jonny Wilkinson, Owen Farrell and Rob Andrew.

Smith will have surely looked at these players for inspiration when it comes to his game; however, he would be remiss to only learn from English talent, and so he has enjoyed watching other talents from around the world, including Ronan O’Gara and Dan Carter.

However, one man stood out to the 26-year-old as the fly-half who should be the ‘benchmark’ for all those players that want to be world-class.

Smith said: “I've played against Johnny Sexton, I think, a couple of times. I think it was two times. Yeah, actually, I think I swapped shirts with him. I think I've got a shirt at home, which is pretty special. Again, I used to watch; I'm rugby mad, so I used to watch all the tours growing up, including Lions tours and Six Nations games.

“He's been the benchmark arguably in the world, you know, as a fly-half: his competitiveness, his drive for the team and how he demands the best out of the team. His teammates around him were second to none, and that's something that I only noticed while playing against him.”

Rugby fans around the world will dream of learning from players that they admire but know they will never get the chance to achieve this ambition.

Yet, Smith has managed to live this fantasy as he worked under Sexton while on tour with the British and Irish Lions in Australia last summer, and the England international made sure to learn as much as he could from a player he admired so fondly.

He said: “I was super excited about the opportunity to learn from him from a mental point of view, from a game-driving point of view.

“He helped me massively with goal-kicking as well and touch-kicking and just being able to, I guess, pick his brains on the way he sees the game, anything that he thinks that I can work on, which was a very valuable experience for me, and I think and I hope I've improved as a player as a result of that experience.”