Marcus Smith was bound to face pressure as England 's fly-half heir entering this year's Six Nations, but the stakes soared when captain Owen Farrell was ruled out of the tournament barely a week before its start.
Nevertheless, Wales legend Shane Williams believes Smith has been "superb" in his duties thus far and successfully transferred his red-hot Harlequins form onto the international stage.
The 23-year-old earned his debut against the United States last July and went on to help Eddie Jones ' side clinch empowering wins over Australia and reigning world champions South Africa in the autumn.
His Six Nations debut ended with a disappointing Calcutta Cup defeat to Scotland —during which he scored all 17 of England's points—but he bounced back with another try-scoring display to beat Italy last weekend.
The Azzurri were somewhat easy prey for the playmaker to clinch his maiden Six Nations win, but titleholders Wales promise to offer much stiffer competition at Twickenham on February 26.
It will be Smith's first senior outing against Wales and an opportunity to experience that rivalry first-hand, with both teams just one defeat from seeing their Six Nations title hopes all but extinguished.
Despite the disappointment of that Week 1 loss in Edinburgh, however, Williams picked Smith out as one of the players who has impressed him most in this year's competition thus far.
"Marcus Smith has been superb, he’s got two tries in two games and was deservedly man of the match against Italy," the former Wales winger told Betway .
"He's taking his Harlequins confidence on to the England stage now."
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Williams—who scored a record 58 tries in 87 appearances for Wales—picked out fellow wingers Darcy Graham and Gabin Villiere as two of his other top performers thus far in the tournament.
The former Ospreys star also highlighted France scrum-half and stand-in captain Antoine Dupont, who continues to shine consistently: "There’s also Dupont doing what Dupont does – I don’t think I’ve ever seen him have a bad game."
It's no surprise France figure most prominently among Williams' top picks considering they're the only team to win both their opening games and are therefore still in the hunt for the Grand Slam.
They haven't been crowned Six Nations champions since 2010 despite entering numerous editions since then as favourites, but Fabien Galthie has turned the national teams fortunes around—and then some.
Les Bleus were the only team to beat Wales en route to their title win last year, however, and Wayne Pivac's side could still retain the trophy despite a damaging first-round loss to Ireland in Dublin.
"Wales travelling to Twickenham is going to be really tough, and that’s a game England will expect to win," Williams continued, with Wales in search of their first win at Headquarters since the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
"It’s still up in the air and that's the beauty of the Six Nations - you can't write anyone off and you won’t put your money where your mouth is really at the moment, because there's a number of teams that could do it."
While it's been almost seven years since Wales last beat England on their own soil, a full decade has passed since they last emerged as victors at Twickenham in the Six Nations.
In fact, this year's third-round showdown falls exactly 10 years and one day after Williams scored in that most recent Six Nations success in London, the only try in a 19-12 triumph for the visitors.
Fast-forward to today and Smith's task—provided he starts ahead of George Ford as expected—against an injury-ravaged Wales appears slightly more straightforward.
Williams would be among the first to say there's no such thing when England face Wales in the Six Nations, however, as Smith gears up for yet another litmus test on his journey towards international enlightenment.
