As Gregor Townsend sweats on the availability of Finn Russell for next Saturday’s Calcutta Cup there may be a few wistful glances in the direction of England’s fly-halves. For Fin Smith, man of the match on his first Test start against France, has Scottish blood in his veins.
His grandfather, Tom Elliot, was from Galashiels – like Townsend – and represented Scotland and the British & Irish Lions as a loosehead prop. Smith’s father, Andrew, is from Dunfermline and met his wife, Judith, Tom’s daughter, at the London Scottish clubhouse. Smith Jr has eight England caps of his own now but as a child would marvel at his grandfather’s collection, he and brother Angus regularly trying them on.
The closest Smith came to a sliding-doors moment was in the summer of 2022. Scotland were about to tour South America, England were headed for Australia. Townsend had been in contact with Smith, who had been invited to train with England a few times but was yet to be selected in a senior squad. The offer from Townsend never came, and the Scotland ship officially sailed when Smith made his debut for England off the bench against Italy last February.
Fast-forward to last weekend and Smith, with an assured performance including two try assists, masterminded England’s victory over France, cementing himself in the England No 10 jersey for the foreseeable future, you suspect. He was born in Warwick and came through the English age-grade system but as Steve Borthwick’s side ramp up preparations for the Calcutta Cup – Scottish property for the last four years – Smith knows there will be split loyalties at home.
“It was always: ‘We’re going to be proud of you no matter what, it’s your decision,’ but there was definitely a conversation to have,” says Smith. “I chatted to Mum and Dad about it and said: ‘Look, I want to play for England.’ And they were like: ‘Right, OK, great. I’m sure we’ll be all right with that eventually.’ It was all in good spirits and they’re really proud of me. I’ve told my Dad he’s got to be neutral next weekend if I’m playing. He’s definitely going to be singing one of the two anthems, maybe both if I’m lucky.
“I don’t think I was ever fully picked in a Scotland squad or had the opportunity there. I’d spoken to Gregor a few times about where he thought I was at with my game. That option never came fully to the fore but I had a few conversations with him. He’s someone whose opinion I respect a lot and he helped me with a few things as I was developing as a player. I think it might have been when they went on tour to Chile [in 2022] but eventually he just said I wasn’t in their plans anyway, so it made my decision a lot easier.”
Ultimately choosing England was an easy decision for Smith – “I’m English, I’ve lived in England all my life, it was a simple choice that I wanted to be an England rugby player” – and suffice to say his performance against France vindicates that decision. The morning after was “dusty” after Smith and co indulged themselves before the Six Nations’ first rest week. But as a bright young thing in England’s No 10 jersey, he is slowly learning of the attention that comes with it.
Well-wishers included the England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, as well as a host of former coaches, but even at 22, Smith has the temperament to take it in his stride. Talk of rugby is often banned at the dinner table at home, which was probably a good thing during a few days off at the start of the week, given Saturday’s opponents.
“That is the thing about professional sport, one week people will say you’re the best player ever and the next will say that you’re terrible,” he adds. “Having an awareness that what those people are saying doesn’t matter too much, spending time with my family, my girlfriend and my mates, putting the phone down for a few days and trying to just reset is what that looks like for me. I think everyone is different.
“Sometimes we have gone out for meals and I’ll say: ‘Look, I would really rather we just don’t talk about rugby for the next few hours,’ because it can take over your life. Having those conversations fully away from it is something I have found really important.”
Smith had an inauspicious start to last weekend’s 26-25 victory when he was charged down by the France No 8 Grégory Alldritt. Evidently it helped Smith to have three Northampton teammates in Alex Mitchell, Tommy Freeman and Ollie Sleightholme alongside him, not to mention Ollie Lawrence, with whom he played at Worcester. After the match Smith confessed to being a “rabbit in the headlights” in the first half but Steve Borthwick praised his fly-half’s ability to brush off his early setback.
“I want to live every moment in the moment, and I don’t want to make a decision before I’ve seen what the defence are doing,” he says. “Despite the charge-down being a bit of a stressful moment, it was like: ‘Ah well, at least I’ve gone out and will live by the sword, die by the sword.’ I back myself. Big picture, if it’s: ‘Oh my god I’ve done two bad things now, let’s just go safe,’ then I’m on a slippery slope down from there. I was pretty relaxed about it. I said to Ollie and Freemo: ‘That was a pretty shit start, wasn’t it?’ And then I got on with it.”
The Saints connection was to the fore for England’s second try – Smith’s cross-kick found Freeman, who gathered and dotted down – and is evidence of the cohesion that Borthwick is so desperate to introduce into this side. “We are all very aligned with how we see the game. I have played 50-odd games with Mitch now. Particularly at the weekend, the last 25 minutes when the pressure was on and we had to make some fairly big game management decisions, having him out there with me made a massive difference and took a bit of weight off my shoulders. The wingers, knowing them like the back of my hand definitely made my job a little bit easier.”
It is his relationship with Marcus Smith, however, that has been most scrutinised since Saturday. Moved to full-back to accommodate Fin, Marcus endured a mixed afternoon against France. He always looked threatening running from deep but made two handling errors and missed two kicks at goal in the second half.
On the instruction of the assistant coach Kevin Sinfield, Fin took over kicking duties, nailing two crucial conversions, but the Northampton playmaker is adamant his relationship with his namesake can flourish.
“I’d say we’re already very aligned,” adds Smith. “He’s one of my closest mates in camp. We get on really well away from rugby. We talk about rugby a bunch, and see the game very similarly. I love playing with him and I think the more we can do that together it’s only going to be a good thing for me. Hopefully he feels the same way as well. It’s funny that you miss a couple of kicks and you’re the worst kicker in the world. He’s an unbelievable goal-kicker and I back him all day to kick the ball over from wherever.”
