Eddie Jones: There’s no ceiling to how good Marcus Smith can be
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Jamie George scored two first-half tries as England cruised to a 33-0 bonus-point victory against Italy at Stadio Olimpico for their first win of the 2022 Six Nations.
However, it was Marcus Smith who was named man of the match scoring 13 points in the victory.
The flyhalf both scored and assisted a try against Italy, the third time he has managed that in a Test match for England. Overall, he has had eight try involvements in his seven Tests, scoring four and assisting four.
The 22-year-old beat six defenders against Italy, which is the most by an England fly-half in the Six Nations since Jonny Wilkinson's eight against Ireland in 2002.
Speaking after the game, England head coach sang Smith's praises: “There’s no ceiling to how good he can be” Jones told reporters.
“If he keeps on wanting to get better, keeps on having a learning mindset he could be an absolutely outstanding player at test level by the World Cup. And obviously that’s pretty important.”
Meanwhile, Smith believes there is more to come ahead of hosting Wales in two weeks' time.
"We have loads to work on. We are still learning on our journey, but we will enjoy tonight and get back on the horse tomorrow," he told ITV Sport.
"We put a big emphasis on today – we were very disappointed after Murrayfield. Eddie [Jones] spoke about the next job and we have put ourselves back in it with that win.
"I've never played here before. There was a special atmosphere, with loads of England fans having come out. We had to put a show on for them.
"We were a bit scrappy and credit to Italy, but to score 33 points is always nice."
England have now won all 23 of their Six Nations matches against Italy and are the only side the Azzurri have never beaten in the championship. Indeed, Italy have lost 34 matches in a row in the Six Nations in an unwanted record streak stretching back to 2015.