'I often forget he’s only 21... He’s a tough competitor' - Dowson

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson lavished praise on Fin Smith after the 21-year-old inspired the Saints to a 34-19 Gallagher Premiership victory over Exeter.

Playmaker Smith was at the heart of everything for the home team, helping himself to a 14-point haul in his man-of-the-match performance at Franklin’s Gardens.

Smith converted tries from Tommy Freeman, Curtis Langdon, Alex Mitchell and Fraser Dingwall, as well as adding two penalties, as the Saints leapfrogged their rivals to move into the top four.

A delighted Dowson said: “Fin was outstanding and I often forget he’s only 21. I think he is maturing all the time and the more he plays, the better he gets.

“He’s tough and, when we were looking at recruiting for 10, it was one of the things that (head coach) Sam Vesty highlighted. We watched him make a shot on Teimana Harrison here and we thought then he can really defend. He’s a tough competitor.”

Quite rightly, Smith took the bulk of the plaudits, but Dowson was quick to highlight the performance of his entire squad, adding: “I thought, both sides of the ball, we did lots of good things today. It wasn’t always perfect, but I think a lot of what we did was very good.

“We’ve talked as a group about becoming more consistent and I think the players have really driven that from within.

“Having all the international guys back – Sam Matavesi, Courtney Lawes, Alex Mitchell – really helped and they are adding to a group that is pushing hard, both in training and games, and has a good understanding of how we want to play.”

Having come into the game as table-toppers following impressive wins over Saracens, Sale and Bristol, the Chiefs – who had Niall Armstrong red-carded for a high boot to Smith’s face in the second half – were far from their best, claiming scant reward other than tries from Jacques Vermeulen, Scott Sio and Ethan Roots.

“Our individual errors killed us a little bit today, whereas Northampton did not make them and that is our learn,” Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter said.

“Those young players, many of whom are just five games into their Premiership careers, today are occasions where you learn.

“Coming to Northampton on a wet Sunday is not easy, but I am not going to criticise their physical endeavour because we turned up, we leathered into the game and at the end we are still trying to chase the bonus-point try which, had we got, would have been a good result given the scenario of the game.

“The problem with us picking up those wins we have, the focus changes with a lot of people. In reality, these are still young players learning their way and that is what I need to keep reminding people of.

“They are going to make mistakes and, if those individual mistakes all happen in one game, things fall apart quite quickly. If only one or two of our guys make mistakes, that would have been a very close game of rugby.”