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'Tough week' after All Blacks loss forced Marcus Smith to fix problems
Marcus Smith is using a breathing technique to enhance his goalkicking in response to the yips that struck in the first Test against New Zealand in July.
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Smith was off-target with two penalties and a conversion in Dunedin, two of them routine shots at goal and all of them costly misses given England were edged 16-15.
A week later and England lost for the second time, but on this occasion their first-choice fly-half was 100 per cent off the tee and he also engineered tries for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman with laser-guided chips.
Apart from changing his boots and the kicking tee, Smith learned to control his breathing – a skill he will be using when the All Blacks visit Allianz Stadium on November 2.
“Going into the first Test, I was probably overthinking it,” the Harlequins playmaker said.
“I don’t think I kicked that well towards the back end of last season. I felt I was a bit rushed, a bit tight on the ball.
“Sometimes you can look at it and it feels like it’s going to be all good, then you get to a game and it’s suddenly all different.
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“I have done a fair bit of breath work at the back of my run-up, especially if I’m in a longer passage of play, trying to regulate my emotions and breathing so I can stay calm in that moment.
“I just take a deep breath in, suck it up at the end, and then breathe out as slow as I can. It’s like an army technique to regulate.
“I do it as well if there’s big decisions or a long passage of play. I try and regulate myself so that I’m not as aggressive and as angry as I can be, especially in decision-making and the closed-skill stuff.
“I’m probably at my best in terms of kicking when I’m calm and relaxed and aiming down the middle and knocking it over.
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“But in that specific moment, when the lads needed me most, I wasn’t there. That game in Dunedin was quite a tough game for me personally and it was also a difficult week.”
Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for the latest episode of Walk the Talk to discuss his move to the NFL. Watch now on RugbyPass TV
