Marcus Smith started barking orders at Joe Marler, and the England prop’s head was on an immediate swivel.
A precocious teenager fizzing to prove his point and his prowess, Smith’s eagerness to perform in Harlequins training initially rubbed some of the senior pros up the wrong way.
Experienced Test front-rower Marler did a couple of early double-takes when on the receiving end of a ticking off from the callow Smith.
But the 86-cap England star admitted he did not need long to both warm to Smith and fully appreciate his special talents.
Those headstrong early days at Quins are some six years ago now, and on Sunday Smith will start at full-back for England for his 29th cap – to face Fiji in a World Cup quarter-final in Marseille.
“Early on I would turn around and say, ‘I’m going to have to say something to this guy, he’s gobbing off at me’,” said Marler.
“I’ve been here 10 years and he’s gobbing off at me, ‘you’ve got to get here, you’ve got to get there’, driving standards.
“I’m a little bit like, ‘who are you?’ Then you realise that he knows what he’s talking about and the fact he had that confidence as a 17, 18-year-old, that desire to be the best and be part of the team.
“And he wants to drive within that wheel and he’s managed to carry that on throughout his career so far, and he’s done it consistently at club level.
“It’s about now doing it consistently at international level and what better place to do that than starting in the quarter-final.”
Smith first came onto England’s senior radar when called into training with Eddie Jones’ squad while the Red Rose men were training at Brighton College.
The pacy playmaker attended the school, and even wore rugby socks to an exam to be able to jump from the test to an England session fast enough.
Now he will step into his first World Cup knockout match this weekend, and Marler explained how Smith’s fixation on improvement raises standards right across Steve Borthwick’s squad.
“For me it took a little while, I was like, ‘he’s this jumped-up, entitled, private school kid’,” said Marler.
“And then you realise how good he is at rugby, why he’s doing what he’s doing, and I knew I was going to listen to him. He was going to get us into positions where we could win more rugby matches, because he knows what he’s talking about.
“And he earned the respect of the group, because they knew how good he is, and we know how good he is as a player.
“His drive, he’s obsessed with wanting to be the best every single day, he’s infectious around the group and that’s what stands out for me. It’s in a similar way to Owen (Farrell) in their drives to be the best which raises the standards for the group.
“I’m full of confidence in his ability to thrive on this stage now, albeit in the 15 shirt, but I think to have the talent he has, I’m full of confidence he’ll perform at the weekend.”
