Johnny Sexton expects big things from Marcus Smith

Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton believes England counterpart Marcus Smith has “the world at his feet”.

Smith has shone in the opening three rounds of his maiden Guinness Six Nations campaign and leads the championship’s individual points table ahead of a potential meeting with Sexton during Saturday’s Twickenham showdown.

The 23-year-old, who helped Harlequins win last season’s Gallagher Premiership title, only made his international debut last summer before being summoned to join the British and Lions tour of South Africa.

Ireland captain Sexton has been impressed with Smith’s rapid progress and expects his rival number 10 to be influential at Test level for the next decade.

“Marcus has come in, he’s had a big impact on international rugby already,” said Sexton, who is more than 13 years Smith’s senior.

“He’s done so much at such a young age: to win the Premiership, to have got his English cap, to go on the Lions tour.

“He’s ticking a lot of boxes already and he’s got the world at his feet, really. It’s how he can keep those feet on the ground and keep working hard.

“But he’s been very impressive so far and he’s shown all the tricks: short kicking game, good passing game, good running game, so he’s got it all and he’s going to be a big player over the next 10, 12 years for England.”

Sexton has become accustomed to pitting his wits against George Ford and the injured Owen Farrell during recent meetings with Eddie Jones’ side and acknowledges Smith presents a “slightly different challenge”.

He is poised for possibly the final Twickenham appearance of his illustrious career having on Tuesday announced he will retire after the 2023 World Cup.

The 2018 world player of the year has mixed memories of the stadium.

He helped