Rugby-England's Smith hails Wilkinson after clinching dramatic win over South Africa

Smith, 22, said he has been working with Wilkinson in training and had also been in contact with captain Owen Farrell, who missed the game after ankle surgery and is expected to be out for up to 12 weeks. "It's all down to (Wilkinson)," Smith said.

England flyhalf Marcus Smith paid tribute to World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson after his last-minute penalty secured a 27-26 victory https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/smith-wins-epic-clash-england-with-late-penalty-v-safrica-2021-11-20 over South Africa on Saturday, in the teams' first meeting since their 2019 World Cup final loss to the Springboks. Smith, 22, said he has been working with Wilkinson in training and had also been in contact with captain Owen Farrell, who missed the game after ankle surgery and is expected to be out for up to 12 weeks.

"It's all down to (Wilkinson)," Smith said. "He's been working hard with me and, again, putting his arm around me and allowing me to explore at the weekend. I appreciated it, big time. We said four weeks ago this was the game we wanted to target. "The boys bought into the last four weeks. We got extremely close as a group. It was a massive, massive part of our journey as a young group of players and to beat the world champions in front of 82,000 at home was special... It's a day I'll never forget.

"Over the last four weeks I've loved working with Owen. It's a shame he fell to injury last week but we've been in contact this week and he's been helping me a lot. I've learned loads from him." The victory over South Africa rounded off England's year following impressive wins over Tonga and Australia. They will take on Scotland at Murrayfield in their first Six Nations match on Feb. 5.

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