![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/leedsnow.live-website.com\/sandbox\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/3F1576BE-F9D7-483C-9BAC-C505A09FF2DB-1024x643.jpg?resize=800%2C502&ssl=1\")
Fin went to one of the biggest rugby schools in the country, Warwick School. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was one of if not the most influential player in that school team leading them to a Twickenham final in his last year at the school which was sadly cancelled due to COVID. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tom Pierce, Warwick school Director of rugby said: “He was massive for the team, he was the centre of some of the moments that got us to the final and we wouldn’t have made it that far without him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fin plays fly half which is one of the most important positions on the pitch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has always been such a creative player in attack ever since school rugby which is now showing in his premiership matches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he is also brilliant in defence: “He was one of the best tacklers in the team. He’s not just a great attacker but also great in defence and is showing that in the prem” said Pierce<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fin grew into his leadership role at Warwick and Worcester and is now at Saints. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He’s a great personality in the changing rooms and is confident in himself, but not arrogant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pierce said: “He grew into his leadership role and was exactly what the team needed as they were quite a quiet team. He drove the standards of the group on and off the pitch”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Going to Warwick was great for Fin’s development as a player opening him up to the opportunity to join the Worcester academy: “It’s all a lot of the lads think and talk about. There’s always rugby around you. They were great with letting people leave to go and train with Worcester and I think if I hadn’t gone to Warwick I probably wouldn’t have been in the situation I’m in now” said Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After progressing through Warwick rugby and the Worcester Academy Fin made his premiership debut in February 2021 which he described as “Nervewracking” and “One of the highlights of my career so far”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His move to Saints came after Worcester went into administration but the move would have happened at the end of this current season anyway: “It has been in the works a long time, maybe a little over a year I started speaking to them and they mentioned they were super keen.” He took the interest from them as a “massive compliment” and he said that was the first moment he felt he must’ve been doing something right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fin has a rare love for the game that a lot of players don’t: “I’m obsessed with it. I want to constantly get better. I really love rugby as opposed to it just being my job”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fin is also very grateful for all the coaches he has had over his career so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mentioning he met Gordon ross in his under-17 season at Worcester: “In my under-17 season, I met a man called Gordon Ross, the head coach at Worcester. He’s the guy I probably give the most credit to for taking me under his wing. If it wasn’t for the work he put in I might’ve not kicked on in that last year”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fin sets his standards high wanting to make a name for himself in the league and is also pushing for an international call-up soon: “At the moment I’m head down trying to make as much of a name for myself as I can. In terms of international rugby, I’ve had conversations with both Eddie Jones and Gregor Townsend. I’m constantly thinking about the advice they have given me and the areas of the game they want to see me improve”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tom pierce says he is incredibly proud of Fin and he is the reason coaches go into rugby: “I’m incredibly proud, it’s the reason you go into coaching. I’m more proud of the person he has become and hopefully, he goes on to the next level of international rugby”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good luck to Fin for the rest of the season and the rest of his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fin Smith is one of the most exciting talents in the Gallagher Premiership, but how did he get there?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":11647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[377],"class_list":["post-11384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digi-pub-assignments"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/CAB7F714-D414-4F33-8294-C80E821D65DF.jpg?fit=1170%2C764&ssl=1","authors":[{"term_id":377,"user_id":165,"is_guest":0,"slug":"theodorebromwich","display_name":"Ted Bromwich","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af43cebb9ecb3501d70dd3a3d9e9b0984129afb23b25b7fa60198c5ba29b9df0?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11384"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35518,"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11384\/revisions\/35518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11384"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedsnow.co.uk\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=11384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/leedsnow.live-website.com\/sandbox\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/9A6B8CE2-521F-4A81-BCBD-C16B06802A00-1-1024x681.jpg?resize=800%2C532&ssl=1\")