Marcus Smith insists he has been given a licence to thrill for England this summer

Marcus Smith insists he has licence to thrill this summer with England, as the exciting fly-half makes his first steps onto the Test stage.

The Harlequins No 10, who inspired the club to an unlikely Premiership title with an all-out attacking style, made his England debut against the USA last Sunday.

Smith scored a try and kicked four conversions, but early on it looked as though his instinctiveness was restricted by Eddie Jones’ game-plan as he kicked plenty of possession away.

But the 22-year-old said he does have creative freedom with England.

‘As playmakers we’ve been given licence to play,’ he said after the 43-29 win over the Americans at Twickenham.

‘We’ve been backed as players to express ourselves on the field within the game plan and the game plan was to turn them early, force them to give us counterattack opportunities and then to pounce on their errors.

‘I thought our kick pressure, our forwards in the first half were brilliant and put pressure on them. Freddie Steward, Joe Cokanasiga and Max Malins were brilliant under the high ball so it was nice to play off the front foot when those guys were doing their jobs well.’

Smith scored a try and kicked four conversions on his England debut against the USA

While he looked restricted early on, the Harlequins No 10 got into his groove on Sunday

Smith loved making his debut in front of 10,000 fans and his family – with his girlfriend, two brothers, parents and grandparents all at HQ having watched him lift the league title the week before with Quins.

‘The last few weeks before I came into camp were unbelievable but the moment I got into camp, my focus has switched to helping the team, helping England perform this week and I’ve thrown myself at that and tried to park previous weeks to the back of my mind,’ he added.

‘It’s special to have my family here. They’ve supported me ever since I grew up in Asia. I wouldn’t be sitting here without them all so I owe a lot of my achievements to them. It was really special to see them when I was receiving the kick-off.

‘The main difference was the speed at which the game is played. It was a bit of a step up and it took me some time to adapt.

The 22-year-old insists he has been given creative freedom by Eddie Jones (left) this summer

‘I tried to focus on doing my basics, getting my hands on the ball early, passing accurately and letting the rest of the game come to me.’

Despite injuries to Malins and Ollie Lawrence forcing a first-half back-line re-shuffle, with Wasps half-backs Dan Robson and Jacob Umaga then playing out of position, Smith thought the England kids coped well.

‘Obviously there were a few guys playing out of position, it was a challenge we all rose up to as players, we problem-solved on the pitch, we moved players around in different positions but we all did it with a smile on our faces – it was good fun,’ he concluded, now preparing to face Canada next Saturday.