<\/p>
Marcus Smith must \u201cstart converting the rest of us\u201d with the European Rugby Champions Cup a perfect time to do exactly that, says Irish rugby legend Brian O\u2019Driscoll.<\/p>\n
The iconic former Leinster star \u2013 who will feature during BT Sport\u2019s coverage of the Champions Cup starting this weekend \u2013 believes Smith still needs to convince rugby enthusiasts beyond the English borders.<\/p>\n
Harlequins\u2019 hot prospect Smith burst onto the international scene to win his first cap in July 2021 and an impressive Autumn Internationals campaign has seen his stock rise in the eyes of England fans.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Driscoll likes what he sees from Smith, but has challenged the 22-year-old to wow neutrals with gutsy displays in gritty games during the European Rugby Champions Cup.<\/p>\n
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com<\/a>, O\u2019Driscoll said: \u201cI want to see more of what Marcus Smith can do on a European level, what he can do at Premiership level.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a bit of it in internationals, but I guess what he\u2019s trying to do is tick all the boxes in garnering respect from the public at large.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got a good bit of it in England but it\u2019s about whether he can start converting the rest of us.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s a very, very nice player, but I want to see more of whether he can control games in places like Castres \u2013 a perfect game that you wouldn\u2019t associate would suit his game style.<\/p>\n \u201cIs he able to find a way to put his team in the right places at the right times to get an away victory at one of the toughest places in France? That\u2019s what you get in Europe, you get players having to find a way to get something done where it might be a break from their usual style or their usual form, but if they find another gear, that\u2019s where you get respect from your contemporaries, but also the public at large.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Driscoll is in no doubt over Smith\u2019s clear ability, but he wants to see Smith mature into an influential figure who can dig his team out of dire situations.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cSomeone like Marcus Smith can still be that kind of flowing, fast footwork, lovely passer on the line, but the reality is in tough arm wrestle games when the conditions aren\u2019t brilliant, and you\u2019ll get lots of that in international and Six Nations, you\u2019ll get that during December and January in Europe.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you navigate your way through with your pack being on the back foot? Can you build a performance and put yourself in winning positions? Can you kick your goals when there\u2019s gale-force winds?<\/p> \u201cOr where players are trying to maim you or players are trying to hit you off the ball? We\u2019ve seen that for years with Johnny Sexton, late shots, can you get up from that and go again and prove your worth?<\/p>\n \u201cThere are always tests, it never finishes. He\u2019s still relatively new to the scene albeit with a few seasons under his belt, but now it\u2019s the next iteration of him.<\/p>\n \u201cCan he become a world class international player? This is a great opportunity for him to prove it at the next level of European rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n BT Sport is the home of European Rugby Champions Cup. <\/em><\/p>\n The 2021\/22 season kicks off with a weekend full of games, including Leinster v Bath live on BT Sport 2 at 3.15pm on Saturday 11th December.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Find out more information on how to watch at BT Sport <\/span>bt.com\/sport<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for something else to watch, check out our\u00a0<\/b>TV Guid<\/b>e<\/strong><\/span><\/a> or visit our Sport<\/a> hub.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Michael Potts Published: Saturday, 11 December 2021 at 12:00 am Marcus Smith must \u201cstart converting the rest of us\u201d with the European Rugby Champions Cup a perfect time to do exactly that, says Irish rugby legend Brian O\u2019Driscoll. The iconic former Leinster star \u2013 who will feature during BT Sport\u2019s coverage of the Champions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":8562,"template":"","categories":[7,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/marcus-smith-challenged-by-brian-odriscoll-ahead-of-european-rugby-champions-cup-convert-the-rest-of-us-scaled.jpg",2560,1958,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/marcus-smith-challenged-by-brian-odriscoll-ahead-of-european-rugby-champions-cup-convert-the-rest-of-us-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/marcus-smith-challenged-by-brian-odriscoll-ahead-of-european-rugby-champions-cup-convert-the-rest-of-us-300x229.jpg",300,229,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/marcus-smith-challenged-by-brian-odriscoll-ahead-of-european-rugby-champions-cup-convert-the-rest-of-us-768x587.jpg",768,587,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/marcus-smith-challenged-by-brian-odriscoll-ahead-of-european-rugby-champions-cup-convert-the-rest-of-us-1024x783.jpg",800,612,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/marcus-smith-challenged-by-brian-odriscoll-ahead-of-european-rugby-champions-cup-convert-the-rest-of-us-1536x1175.jpg",1536,1175,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/marcus-smith-challenged-by-brian-odriscoll-ahead-of-european-rugby-champions-cup-convert-the-rest-of-us-2048x1566.jpg",2048,1566,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Michael Potts Published: Saturday, 11 December 2021 at 12:00 am Marcus Smith must \u201cstart converting the rest of us\u201d with the European Rugby Champions Cup a perfect time to do exactly that, says Irish rugby legend Brian O\u2019Driscoll. The iconic former Leinster star \u2013 who will feature during BT Sport\u2019s coverage of the Champions…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/8561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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