Marcus Smith recalls Dan Biggar’s Lions welcome ahead of Six Nations showdown

Marcus Smith recalls being welcomed on to last year’s Lions tour of South Africa by being beaten at cards by Dan Biggar as he turns his attention towards facing the Wales fly-half at Twickenham.

England are aiming to build momentum in their Guinness Six Nations title quest when they face the champions in round three on February 26.

Smith will line-up opposite Biggar for the first time on the international stage, seven months after the Wales captain emerged as a friendly face for the 23-year-old when he was summoned to South Africa as a late addition to the Lions tour.

It was part of a breakthrough summer for Smith, who had only just won his first two caps for England before jetting off to join Warren Gatland’s squad.

Smith said: “Dan’s a brilliant guy. He invited me to my first game of cards out in South Africa, which was nice. He didn’t have to do that.

“All the Welsh boys invited me to that. I lost a tenner – they were stealing my money!

“Dan was very accommodating and very welcoming. He brought me up to speed with the playbook quickly and the way they wanted to play out there.

“He always greeted me with a smile on his face and we worked really closely together with our kicking and I learned at lot about the game from him, Finn Russell and Owen as well.

“I’m very grateful because I’ve been brought up in a rugby-mad family. My dad is an extremely proud Englishman and he always told me how big the Wales game is.

“If I get the opportunity to play in the game, I know how much it will mean to not only my dad but every other proud English fan in the country.”

Smith, only two games into his first Six Nations, has already stamped his authority on England’s number 10 jersey, most conclusively with an inventive man-of-the-match