Eddie Jones believes there is no limit to Marcus Smith’s potential after the England fly-half inspired his side to a comfortable 33-0 victory against Italy in Rome. Jones’s side failed to ruthlessly thrash Italy as he had urged them to but Smith was the standout performer, scoring the first try and delivering another fine showing in England colours.
He finished with 13 points and his second try of the championship after exchanging passes with Max Malins, with whom he dovetailed impressively throughout. Last week Smith was replaced against Scotland with 17 minutes remaining when England led by seven points – his withdrawal coinciding with England’s capitulation.
“There’s no ceiling to how good he can be,” said Jones. “If he keeps on wanting to get better, keeps having a learning mindset, he could be an absolutely outstanding player at Test level by the World Cup. And obviously that’s pretty important, to have a good 10.”
Jones was largely satisfied with the performance, which plateaued for long spells of the second half before Kyle Sinckler added the fifth try. England also kept Italy scoreless for the first time in the Six Nations.
“You always want more,” Jones said. “You always want a few more sparklers, a few more rockets. But we went out with the strong intent of taking the game to Italy and not allowing them into the game. I think we did that but we’d have liked to have finished a few more of the rockets at the end that we didn’t get.”
England’s bonus-point victory moves them to second in the Six Nations table with back-to-back matches at Twickenham to come against Wales and Ireland, but Smith echoed Jones’s view that there is room for improvement. “I thought in parts we were good, but we’re all striving for perfection,” he said. “We’re not satisfied at the minute. But to come away with five points in this tournament is always nice.”
Jones was tight-lipped on the incident that saw Jack Nowell withdrawn for a head injury assessment – which the Exeter winger failed – in the first half. The referee Damon Murphy came in for criticism amid claims he appeared to hastily restart play. Nowell was taken off soon after, just 16 minutes into his first England start for three years.
The incident comes after an England doctor came in for criticism for how a head injury to Deago Bailey was handled in the under-20s side’s defeat on Friday. But Jones said: “I don’t have any understanding. I am told if he can play or not and if he can’t I’ll make a replacement.”
