Fin Smith opens up on talks with Gregor Townsend before choosing England

Fin Smith has Scottish connections everywhere he looks – but that will not stop England’s fly-half plotting the Calcutta Cup downfall of Gregor Townsend’s team.

Smith’s parents are Scottish, his late grandfather Tom Elliot played for Scotland and the British and Irish Lions, and he previously had rugby conversations with head coach Townsend.

Warwick-born Smith, though, only had ambitions to represent England, and that Test career has started to flourish.

His biggest moment so far came with a match-winning conversion that saw England edge out France 26-25 in a Six Nations thriller, while his all-round game was pivotal to an outstanding victory.

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It was only the 22-year-old’s eighth cap and first Test start, but maturity and impressive game-management have helped mark him out as a special talent.

“I don’t think I was ever fully picked in a Scotland squad or had the opportunity there,” Smith said.

“I had spoken to Gregor a few times about where he thought I was at with my game and stuff, but that option never came fully to the fore.

“He is someone whose opinion I respect a lot, and he helped me with a few things as I was developing as a player.

“There was a time when there were both options, but for me it was a simple decision that I wanted to be an England rugby player.

“I am English, I’ve lived in England all my life, wanted to play for England ever since I’ve been alive, so it was a pretty easy decision.”

Smith describes his late grandfather’s rugby exploits as “a pretty cool link”, while he has grandparents living in the Borders and Dunfermline.

His parents, meanwhile, met in the London Scottish clubhouse, although he added: “Bizarre. I don’t actually want to know too much about that!”

Smith added: “Unfortunately, I never got to meet him (grandfather) because 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.

“It was always ‘we are going to be proud of you no matter what, it’s your decision’, but there was definitely a conversation to have.

“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 am sure we will be all right with that eventually’. It was all in good spirits, and they are really proud of me.

“I have told my dad he has got to be neutral next weekend if I am playing. He is definitely going to be singing one of the two anthems, maybe both if I am lucky.”

Smith had many messages of congratulations following his performance against France, including from Southampton and England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

But switching off was also important to the Northampton star ahead of going again next week in the build-up to Scotland’s Allianz Stadium visit on February 22.

“He (Ramsdale) was at a game in the autumn. I wasn’t playing and was sat in the crowd, and he was sat in front of me,” Smith said.

“We just had a bit of a chat, he is a nice guy. He loves it, his brother plays a lot, so he sort of follows it from afar. He actually knew what was going on, to be fair.

“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.

“Growing up, probably 18 to 20-21, I wouldn’t be able to switch off. I would think about rugby so much I would be sat at dinner thinking ‘I wish I had done that in the training session today’.

“And I probably felt that meant that when I went on to the pitch and made mistakes it was the end of the world because it was my life, and one mistake is the end of the world.

“That is something I’ve had to work quite hard on with sports psychologists to find a way to switch off, so that when I turn up to play on Saturday I am fully charged and my battery is full.”