MARCUS SMITH’S BIG AMBITION

After England’s tough campaign in the Six Nations, their rising star Marcus Smith has big ambitions

ROLLING freshwater pearls between his fingers, strung together on a bracelet from the Philippines, Marcus Smith is reminiscing about the very first time he set foot on a rugby pitch. He is sitting in a meeting room in the hustle and bustle of Fitzrovia yet his mind is almost 7,000 miles away, back in Manila.

‘My mum’s Filipina, worked as an air stewardess for Cathay Pacific,’ he says. ‘I’ve got two younger brothers and we were born in Makati. We spent hours down at Manila Nomads Sports Club, watching our dad play rugby, throwing a ball around with our mates.

‘As you drive in, there’s palm trees in the car park. There were little tin huts by one of the pitches, where the homeless kids lived. They’d be right up against the hoardings to watch the games.

‘Along with one of his good mates, our dad set up a team for us. The homeless kids would come along and play. They spoke

Tagalog, which I didn’t really understand back then. But the minute we started throwing balls around with them, the smiles on their faces were unbelievable.

‘There was this one kid, Clinton, who was rapid, running around barefoot. We’d have boots on but he used to skin us with his pace and footwork. Some of them could sidestep anyone. I loved it. It was a good time to be alive.’

It was on those pitches, well-watered by monsoon showers, that Smith started to shape his rugby philosophy. Running around, all smiles, before retreating to the clubhouse to eat rice with fried chicken and gravy. The sidestep has remained in his back pocket ever since.

When he was eight, Smith’s family moved to Singapore. His father, Jeremy, worked there in commercial real estate. New surroundings, his eyes were opened to a different way of thinking.

‘I went to a state school in the Philippines and it was very strict. If you did something wrong you’d be stood with your face against the wall for 40 minutes,’ he says, holding his palm to his nose.

‘When we moved to Singapore, we were very lucky to go to an international school. We lived on the 10th floor of a condo with a big communal pool. It was always about 30C so we spent a lot of time outside, playing hide and seek, playing with a ball, competing. I was really into my football.

‘We were always down at Centaurs Rugby Club, in the sun, barefoot, with our tops off. There were a lot of expats: Kiwis, South Africans, Australians. With the time zones, the style of rugby we were exposed to on TV was during the peak of Super Rugby. I remember watching Carlos Spencer, Dan Carter, playing with a smile on their face, backing themselves, trying crosskicks, throwing balls between their legs.’ Running his fingers through his thick black hair, he continues: ‘Mum and dad met in Hong Kong so they always took us there to watch the sevens as a family. I remember seeing guys like William Ryder, Waisale Serevi, Tomasi Cama. Players who got us on the edge of our seats. I’d practise those sidesteps and dummies with my brothers back in the garden. The mixture of those things influenced me, for sure.’

The Smith household valued entertainment. He shares a story about the time his mother tried to turn the three boys into the Jonas Brothers. Marcus on guitar, Luc on the drums, Tom on the keyboard. ‘We’d be singing Hey Soul Sister. I think mum had this fantasy that one day we’d be at the O2!’

Shaped by his journey through Asia, Smith, eventually found himself in England as a teenager. Now 24, he is spending an afternoon in the London HQ of Roc Nation Sports International, the talent agency founded by American rapper and producer Jay-Z. He is about to be unveiled as their newest client. One of the game’s great entertainers, his jersey will soon sit on their walls alongside the likes of Kevin de Bruyne and Siya Kolisi.

Michael Yormark, the agency’s larger-than-life president, bursts into the room and wraps an arm around Smith’s shoulder. ‘Best in the world right here!’ he blasts in his American accent. ‘I don’t care what anyone says! This is the man right here!’

Yormark and Smith have discussed setting up a rugby foundation in the Philippines at some point in the future. Smith wants to change things for the better but the immediate focus is on his own self-improvement.

‘Performing is the most important thing, but you want your legacy to last longer than your play on the field,’ says Smith. ‘My brother plays for the Philippines now so I’ve got a link into the rugby side over there. I’d love to be able to help. It’s very close to my heart. We’re only just scratching the surface in rugby.’ On his left arm,

Performing is the most important, but you want a legacy to last off the field

Smith has a tattoo of the Filipino sun, wrapped around his mother’s favourite lily flower. He describes the smell of Sinigang — a sour soup native to the Philippines — that hits him every time he walks through the door of his parents’ home in Brighton. He is proud of his multi-cultural roots.

Asians in English rugby are few and far between and Smith has become a face of Britain’s sporting landscape. He was plucked out of Brighton College by Eddie Jones, training with England in his school kit outside the exam hall, earmarked as a golden talent before he had finished his A Levels. Dealing with the spotlight was a case of learning on the job.

‘It’s obviously been a very exciting five or six years playing professional rugby, but it comes with its struggles as well,’ he admits. ‘I don’t think you can truly prepare yourself for all of the media hype, all of the scrutiny, everything that comes with it. I don’t think you can be taught that unless you experience it yourself.

‘When I was 18, I was on Twitter and I saw 50 good comments and one that was attacking me. I didn’t remember the other 50, I remembered that one. I’ve learnt not to go searching. A lot of people have opinions of you and you’ve got to take it on the chin. I have people outside of rugby who support me. My brothers always take the p*ss out of me and I love it. It’s a privilege to have all of this attention

but you’ve got to be able

to deal with it.’ Living in a similar corner of London, Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount is someone Smith has confided in. Talking football, he puts forward an enthusiastic case for Brighton’s European ambitions. He played centre midfield for their Under-14 team before rugby took over.

He talks about chatting with Brighton’s World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister and their shared love of Maté tea, before conversation comes around to the Six Nations. The dust is still settling on England’s fourth-place finish, while the debate over the No10 jersey will rumble on. Jostling for position with captain Owen Farrell, Smith was in and out of Steve Borthwick’s team as England won only two of their five games.

‘It was disappointing finishing fourth,’ says Smith. ‘We set out to finish higher up the table. We’ve got a lot to work on, but we’ve got loads of time before the World Cup to build on the positives. I’m excited, for sure.’

So has it taken time to adapt to the new coaching setup? ‘With regards to Steve, I didn’t know him that well before so it was a good chance to get to know him, understand the way he sees the game, how he wants me to play. We’re having feedback soon. From my point of view, being back in that environment, I’ve got a lot to work on in terms of managing the game, showing my super strengths regularly and my defence. I want to improve all parts of my game. Five or six months is a long time and I think I can make massive strides in that time.’

As it happens, Smith’s dad is in town for a business meeting and pops by to drop off a book about scaling Everest. Something to add to his collection of sports psychology texts that he resorts to when things are not going to script.

‘We’re all competitive sportsmen,’ he says. ‘Of course I want to be playing.

‘I perform a lot better when I’m in a happy frame of mind. I’ve got this thing where I just say what I see. I read it in a book by Russell Wilson’s psychologist. It’s a philosophy I use every single day of my life. If I get down over certain things, you describe in your mind what you’re experiencing: walking around at 11am on a Wednesday, lobbing a ball around with your mates. When you put it like that, win or lose, you’re in a pretty privileged position. There’s no reason you can’t wake up every day and enjoy the job that we’re lucky to have for a short period of our lives.

‘I play rugby because I love it. I enjoy it so much. When I step out on the field, the first thing I think is to enjoy it. You never know when it’s your last. I was entertained when I watched rugby growing up and I want to have that same effect. I want to win and make the fans leave feeling happy. Ticket prices are extortionate these days so you want the fans feeling like they’ve got value for money, like when I watched those special players on the sevens circuit in Asia.’

The smile quickly returns to Smith’s face as he is handed a rugby ball to do some keepy uppies for a video challenge. The social media guys see someone here with broader appeal than rugby’s traditional boundaries and are keen to get involved. He chats to the cameraman about their shared love of David Beckham, before shaking hands and stepping out into central London’s rush hour for his next adventure.

We’ve got a lot to work on with England, but we’ve got loads of time