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Ex-boss Steve Diamond backs Fin Smith to step up for England in crisis
Steve Diamond has no doubts that 21-year-old Fin Smith can handle the pressure of wearing the England No10 jersey against Italy if head coach Steve Borthwick opts to hand the young Northampton out-half a Test debut in Rome on Saturday.
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With Marcus Smith on crutches after suffering an injury at England training in Girona, there is a potential selection headache for Borthwick to solve as he assembles a backline from an ever-diminishing list of candidates due to a worrying casualty list after a tough run of club games in the Gallagher Premiership and European tournaments.
Diamond was director of rugby at Worcester Warriors when Smith broke into the first team having starred for England U20s as they won the Grand Slam in the delayed 2021 Six Nations, scoring 31 points including a try against Scotland.
Diamond said: “Fin stood out head and shoulders above anyone and I wondered then why he wasn’t being picked by the England setup.
“Fin is good enough to start against Italy or get regular 20 minutes in the Six Nations – I have no qualms about that. Steve Borthwick has an opportunity like no other where he can bring in the youth and the true quality of Fin has come through this season at Northampton.
“Fin has a maturity about him and I remember saying to Steve Smith, the former England scrum-half, that there was a lad at Worcester who reminds me of Charlie Hodgson (who won 38 England caps scoring 269 points).
“He is a very level-headed Warwickshire lad and, like Charlie, Fin can pass off either hand and kicks goals and his unique point of difference is that he can defend. He is a brave kid. Although sometimes his technique is not great, he is prepared to put his head in front of people.
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“He has massive mental strength and his changing room chats and senior player involvements are huge; that is the maturity you see in these special kids. His performance for Northampton in the Champions Cup win at Munster was at another level.
“The fantasy would have been if Worcester had survived he would have stayed, but Fin was always destined to go to one of the top four or five clubs in the Premiership.”
Smith has always been marked out as a real talent after he started playing the sport at four years old at Shipston-on-Stour RFC. Smith has Test rugby in his blood as his grandfather Tom Elliot won 14 caps as a Scotland prop between 1955 and 1958 and also toured South Africa with the British and Irish Lions in 1955.
A product of Warwick School and the now-defunct Worcester Warriors academy, following the demise of the club for financial reasons in 2022, Smith made his debut for the Sixways club at 18 years and 292 days.
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Smith became only the second 18-year-old to play for Warriors in the top flight when he made his debut as a replacement against Gloucester at Kingsholm in 2021.
He then started for the Warriors side that beat London Irish in the final of the 2022 Premiership Rugby Cup to give Worcester their first-ever top-flight trophy and he joined Northampton Saints when the club went out of business.
Diamond, who this week takes over as director of rugby at Newcastle Falcons, a role he previously held at Sale Sharks and Worcester, added: “When you go to clubs like Sale, Worcester and Newcastle, only a fool wouldn’t give these guys opportunities.
“Do you pick a 30-year-old to keep bumbling around the bottom of the league or have a go at it and say, ‘Right, let’s see what he can do?’
“The sadness of the academies like the one at Worcester is that they produced these great young players like Fin, Ted Hill, Ollie Lawrence (both now Bath) and Seb Atkinson (now Gloucester) and now they are playing for different teams. Thank goodness they found a new home.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments