Marcus Smith is using a breathing technique to enhance his goalkicking in response to the yips that struck in the first Test against New Zealand in July.
Smith was off-target with two penalties and a conversion in Dunedin, two of them routine shots at goal and all of them costly misses given England were edged 16-15.
A week later and England lost for the second time, but on this occasion their first-choice fly-half was 100 per cent off the tee and he also engineered tries for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman with laser-guided chips.
Apart from changing his boots and the kicking tee, Smith learned to control his breathing – a skill he will be using when the All Blacks visit Allianz Stadium on November 2.
“Going into the first Test, I was probably overthinking it,” the Harlequins playmaker said.
“I don’t think I kicked that well towards the back end of last season. I felt I was a bit rushed, a bit tight on the ball.
“Sometimes you can look at it and it feels like it’s going to be all good, then you get to a game and it’s suddenly all different.
“I have done a fair bit of breath work at the back of my run-up, especially if I’m in a longer passage of play, trying to regulate my emotions and breathing so I can stay calm in that moment.
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“I just take a deep breath in, suck it up at the end, and then breathe out as slow as I can. It’s like an army technique to regulate.
“I do it as well if there’s big decisions or a long passage of play. I try and regulate myself so that I’m not as aggressive and as angry as I can be, especially in decision making and the closed skill stuff.
“I’m probably at my best in terms of kicking when I’m calm and relaxed and aiming down the middle and knocking it over.
“But in that specific moment, when the lads needed me most, I wasn’t there. That game in Dunedin was quite a tough game for me personally and it was also a difficult week.”
