Fin Smith: ‘Both my parents are Scottish - but I always wanted to play for England’

The London Scottish clubhouse may seem a peculiar place to embark on the life and times of England’s new fly-half star, but the rickety Richmond hangout is where Fin Smith’s story really begins. It was here, two miles or so from Twickenham, where Smith’s mother Judith first set eyes on his father, Andrew: two Scots not then knowing they would one day produce a player who will spend much of next week plotting their own nation’s sporting demise.

“I don’t actually want to know too much about that!” Smith says, understandably not wishing to dwell on his parents’ rugby union. But it serves to highlight that, in a different life and different circumstances, he would have been proudly wearing a thistle rather than a rose on his chest.

Indeed, there is a greater familial connection to the Scotland side, one on which Smith is rather happier to elaborate. “My granddad, Tom Elliot, was a loosehead for Scotland and he played for the British and Irish Lions as well,” the 22-year-old says. “He sadly passed away before I was born but growing up, me and my brother would put on his Lions cap and his Scotland cap, so to see all his old ties and blazers was pretty cool and something I want to replicate.

“They’re both Scottish, my parents. Mum’s mum lives in the Borders, Dad’s parents live in Dunfermline. 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.”

It feels inconceivable after such a composed showing on his first England start, but the Scotland door was not closed that long ago. It is only a year since Smith’s Test bow in the last Six Nations settled his international future, having been the subject of discussions on both sides of the border since his formative days at Shipston-on-Stour Rugby Club and Warwick School.

In summer 2022, with Scotland bound for Argentina, coach Gregor Townsend engaged a barely 20-year-old Smith in exploratory discussions over where his future lay. “I’d spoken to Gregor a few times about where he thought I was at with my game and stuff,” Smith explains, but a full call-up never materialised. “That option never came fully to the fore, but I definitely 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’m English, I’ve lived in England all my life. I wanted to do well, wanted to play for England ever since I’ve been alive so it was a pretty easy decision. 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 alright with that eventually’. It was all in good spirits and they’re really proud of me.”

Proud they should be. Judith and Andrew were part of the celebratory throng at Allianz Stadium last Saturday as Smith steered England to a long-sought victory over the French. Growing in stature throughout his first international start, the fly-half implemented and executed the match-winning play that sent Elliot Daly over from his sharp pass.

“First and foremost, we wanted to score from the maul,” he recalls. “I have seen a lot of people talking about Elliot's work, and the job he did for us was amazing. He basically stayed on the short side for as long as he could to hold their scrum-half, holding the first defender on the open side slightly tighter because they were worried about him sweeping up that side. That then allowed Ollie Lawrence to catch the ball wider opposite a defender, which meant ultimately we had a seven-on-four when we were coming to the open side.

“That is a move pretty much every team in the world will run – that nine to 12, 13 short with 10 out the back. But the quality of the maul and Elliot's job allowed us to run at a defender wider, which meant for me when I had the ball it was a fairly simple decision in terms of who I was playing it to. We have practised that a lot of times in training, so I guess that's what made it a lot easier. Everyone knew what they were doing and the context of the game and the pressure didn't matter so much.”

The vivid detail with which Smith can recall his thought process in those final, crunch moments shows the calm, composure and considerable craft that have marked him out during his rise to national honours. But it was another quality that Steve Borthwick spotlighted in the immediacy of the win – his bouncebackability.

Virtually the Northampton playmaker’s first touch on Saturday was an attempted kick that was charged down. Others may have panicked or grown conservative; Smith did not. “I said to Ollie [Sleightholme] and [Tommy Freeman]: ‘That was a pretty s*** start, wasn’t it?’ And then I got on with it.

“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. 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, and the next decision is whatever it is. 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.”

That ambition to play positively is one shared with his displaced namesake. Fin Smith is enjoying striking up a playmaking partnership with Marcus Smith, whose outing at full-back was up and down, but offers rich potential. The combination appears certain to feature again against Scotland, with George Furbank not yet back fit. “He’s one of my closest mates in camp,” Fin says of Marcus. “We talk about rugby a bunch, and see the game very similarly.”

But Smith the elder is an example of how swiftly the picture can change. Feted in the autumn as England’s standout star, the Harlequin lasted just 60 minutes more at his preferred position before being shifted to allow his younger colleague in. English rugby loves a fly-half debate, from Andrew or Barnes to Farrell or Ford – and at a position that generates more clamour and clicks than any other, the tumble from the highest peak to the deepest trough can be sharp and severe.

It is rocky terrain that England’s new No 10 is acutely aware he may have to ride over the next decade or more. “That is one thing about professional sport, one week people will say you're the best player ever and the next will say that you're terrible. It's been a cool few days, I was on cloud nine on Saturday and Sunday.

“I've had to acknowledge that I've had a real high, and after that being aware that I need to bring myself back down so I can fly into this week's training. But what a special memory – it is something I will remember for a long time.”