England rugby star Marcus Smith said that he had been completing sprint sessions with Olympian Daley Thompson to prepare for the Rugby World Cup.
Smith revealed that he had been training his speed with the former decathlon gold medallist as he shifts from playing fly half to fullback for England.
The 24-year-old, who lives in Brighton and attended Brighton College, added that he “loved every minute” of his work with Thompson, who also lives in the city.
England and Harlequins playmaker Smith said: “For the last five or six years I’ve been working hard on my speed.
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“Credit goes to people who I’ve worked with down in Brighton and Daley Thompson and the guys that I work with in America.
“They put a lot of effort into me and I’ve loved every minute training with those guys. It’s been a joy and it has definitely opened my eyes to sprinting and speed work.”
Smith has developed into England’s fastest player over short distances due to his searing acceleration, which has been on full display since his shift from fly-half to full-back at the World Cup.
The electric 24-year-old has made a series of influential cameos off the bench and also shone in his only start in the full-back position against Chile, producing a superb solo score as part of a two-try haul.
England fought through in a scrappy win against Samoa in their final pool game at the World, scraping through in a disappointing 18-17 win.
Smith and England will now face Fiji in the quarter-finals of the tournament having already suffered a historic defeat to the Pacific Island nation in their warm-up games.
“Fiji were very impressive in the summer and we learnt a lot from that experience. Watching them over the last few weeks I have learnt a lot as well,” Smith said.
“They have got dangerous runners, they have got power across the field, but so do we.
“We are going to prepare as well as we can to negate their threats and put our strengths on the park.”
England will now face Fiji on Sunday at 4pm in Marseille.
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