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England head coach Eddie Jones has warned fly-half Marcus Smith of the “flood of distractions” that may come – comparing them to the interest in Emma Raducanu since her US Open win.
Smith, 22, is seen as England’s next breakout star and came off the bench to score a try against Tonga on Saturday, inspiring a late Twickenham onslaught.
Jones warned against becoming “ungrounded”, claiming Raducanu, 18, “hasn’t done so well” since her Grand Slam win – his comments despite her having only played two events since.
“The big thing for young players is distractions,” said Jones.
“Distractions can be the exposure they get in the media, the praise and criticism they get, groups of agents who see this guy as the next big thing.
“There’s a reason why the girl who won the US Open [Raducanu] hasn’t done so well afterwards. What have you seen her on? The front page of Vogue, the front page of Harper’s Bazaar, whatever it is, wearing Christian Dior clothes.
“He is grounded, but they all start off grounded. No-one starts with their feet off the ground or they don’t get in the team, or they don’t win a US Open. But there’s this flood of distractions that comes in that makes you ungrounded.”
Jones’ comments have been criticised on social media, with BBC Radio 5 Live tennis commentator David Law saying his remarks about Raducanu were “uninformed, irresponsible, sexist nonsense”.
Raducanu has played just four matches since her triumph at Flushing Meadows in September, while Vogue interviewed her before she flew to New York.
She was ranked 338th in the world before reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in the summer, and was catapulted to 23rd in the rankings after winning her first major. On Monday, she made her debut in the top 20.
Raducanu, who is the top seed at the WTA 250 tournament in Linz this week, has said that she will not allow her off-court activities to interfere with her training.
“I made it very, very clear to every single person in my team that I was not going to cancel one training session or practice session for any off-court commitments,” she said.
“That was a non-negotiable for me. I wanted to make sure that that is my priority and it is.”
