England star Marcus Smith has been compared to legendary fly-half Barry John by a former team-mate of the Wales great.

Former England full-back Bob Hiller - who played alongside John on two tours with the British & Irish Lions - claims that the Harlequins man is the closest player of the modern age to the Welshman, who is widely regarded as one of the best fly-halves of all time.

John - who died in February aged 79 - played in 25 internationals for Wales and five Tests for the Lions, while he also starred for Llanelli and Cardiff before retiring from the game aged just 27. His genius on the pitch was revered around the world and he was dubbed 'The King' after playing a starring role in the Lions' historic 2-1 win over the All Blacks in 1971.

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Hiller, who played alongside the Welshman on that tour as well as in South Africa in 1968, described his former team-mate as a "free spirit" who teams "just couldn't cope" with, but claims that those same qualities can be found in Smith. He watches the 25-year-old - who has 39 caps for England - on a regular basis in his role as president of Harlequins and says that he is "a genius" just like John.

“He reminds me so much of Barry John," Hiller told RugbyPass. "Barry John was a free spirit and so is Marcus. He is great to watch and he is doing well. He scores tries out of situations where you wouldn’t believe a try was possible. He is very competitive as well. I think at some stage he is going to make a good captain."

The 82-year-old hopes to see Smith on next year's Lions tour to Australia, but added that coaches must allow him to play "off the cuff" if they are to get the best out of the fly-half.

“Carwyn James, a fantastic coach, played Barry just the right way," he said. "It was no good giving Barry umpteen moves, set positions and things because Barry didn’t know what he was going to do with the ball until he got it. He had great players around him like Mike Gibson, John Dawes and Gareth, of course, and the New Zealanders just couldn’t cope.

“It was all off the cuff in a way, and it is very difficult to counteract that," Hiller added. "Marcus is just the same, he is a genius who does things that other people can only dream of. He has got to have a coach that will allow him to do that.

"He still manages to do outrageous things in internationals and get away with it, and I hope he is always allowed to do that. He’s a great lad.”