I was too cocky, but my mum's helped dial it all down

DALEY THOMPSON turbocharges his speed, Jonny Wilkinson fine-tunes his kicking boots — but Marcus Smith’s mum keeps his feet firmly on the ground.

- Nick Purewal

Olympic great Thompson reached out to Smith to offer sprint coaching and mentorship that continues to go from strength to strength, while World Cup-winner Wilkinson has helped Smith add an extra tactical kicking threat to complement his livewire attacking game in another enduring relationship.

The British sporting stars in England and Harlequins fly-half Smith’s corner could shine no brighter, but any notion of Smith running away with himself has long since been dismissed by a classic touch of familial tough love.

“When I was younger, I was probably a bit too arrogant, a bit too cocky, a bit too outspoken,” Smith tells Standard Sport. “My mum is my chief motivator when it comes to trying to get the best out of me in terms of body language and things like that.

“I had a few honest chats with her, and she said, ‘Marcus, you can have that inner confidence, but you don’t need to keep telling everyone’, so I’ve dialled it down a fair bit. I do still have inner confidence, inner belief, but I keep that to myself a bit more these days.”