England’s Marcus Smith is excited at the prospect of playing alongside the “absolute beast” Manu Tuilagi during the upcoming Autumn Nations Series.
The duo are set to start against Argentina and could pose huge issues for Michael Cheika’s side in what is set to be a brilliant Test at Twickenham.
Smith is looking forward to using the “fear factor” of Tuilagi, who missed out on the Australia tour due to injury. The fly-half feels comfortable playing with the Sale man and believes Tuilagi always has him covered on the outside.
Special player
“First and foremost, Manu is a brilliant bloke. He’s always looked after me ever since I was young,” Smith said.
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“He makes me feel very comfortable and like I can be myself and I love that about him.
“On the field, he’s an absolute beast. He’s a freak with the ball in hand, he’s got brilliant hands at the line and he bangs pretty hard in defence.
“It’s lovely to look outside and know he’s there because he’s always got my back, which is pretty special.
“He adds a fear factor to our team. I know that because when I play him I get that!”
Missing experienced Farrell
Owen Farrell has been out with a concussion but has still been involved in Smith’s preparation. The 23-year-old revealed a need to step up vocally when a player of Farrell’s experience is unavailable.
“Owen’s a brilliant player and he’s been in form at the start of the season,” Smith said.
“He’s got 97 caps and he’s been a massive loss so we’ve had to be adaptable. We’ve all had to step up in our leadership and speak a bit more.
“I texted him a few times and the backs had a Zoom with him in Jersey when we could bat some ideas off him.
“We communicated with him because we feel like he can spot things and add things that we may have missed from being in the thick of it.”
After the Argentina Test, England welcomes Japan and then closes off the Autumn Nations Series with two blockbuster Tests against the All Blacks and the Springboks.