'I struggled': Fin Smith on the lesson learned from winning the PREM

England fly-half Fin Smith has revealed the tough lesson Northampton Saints learned from their 2023/24 Gallagher PREM triumph as the champions prepare to defend the title they reclaimed last season.

Despite reaching the Investec Champions Cup final in 2025, they mounted a dismal title defence, finishing in eighth place. Smith admits Saints became too consumed by trying to recreate their previous success after winning the league, with the squad repeatedly looking back at what had worked rather than finding ways to evolve.

The 24-year-old also conceded that he personally struggled with that success, believing at the time that he had “sort of made it”. Now, after winning another title last season, the 19-cap international is determined not to fall into the same trap and is to be determined to be defined by just a “couple of trophies”.

That mindset has shaped Northampton’s approach ahead of the new campaign. Speaking ahead of their defence, Smith insists Saints are not viewing themselves as a team protecting what they achieved last season, rather one that must improve again while their nine PREM rivals do the same.

There is an added incentive for Smith with the World Cup looming next year. The Northampton playmaker has his sights set on England’s No.10 jersey in Australia and believes the best way to strengthen his claim is by producing consistently better performances at club level.

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Gallagher Premiership

Northampton

11:45

25 Sep 26

Newcastle

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“I’d say I struggled with that the year after we won the PREM the first time,” he said. “I was a bit younger and thought I’d sort of made it, and we were so amazing, we’d won the PREM, all of this. But actually, I want to back it up.

“I think that’s what the great players do. They do it on repeat. A couple of trophies is not what I want to define me. I want to back that up and be a consistent performer. And also, I know I’ve got a huge carrot dangling of the World Cup at the end of the year, which is a massive goal for me, to be at my best.

“And hopefully, I want to wear the 10 jersey, and I know the only way to do that is by improving and playing better with Northampton. So I’m really motivated for this year. I think it’s not been a challenge to get excited about it.

“I think the year after that, we spent too much time comparing to the 2024 season and speaking about, ‘Last year we did this, and it worked, and we need to try and do that again.’

“And actually, I think rather than trying to defend a title and protect what we’ve done and replicate last year, we have to be striving to be much better than that year and create our own way of doing things because there’s nine other teams in the PREM that are doing the exact same thing, and they’ll have improved.

“So I think just the mindset shift: we’re not defending anything and trying to be who we were. We’re trying to improve and add strings to our bow and add layers to what we’re doing and chase down being a much better team than we were last year.”