Every now and then, Fin Smith receives a text message from his mother, Judith, telling him to turn on the tennis.
Why? Because Smith, now 22, was one of Britain’s tennis prodigies as a schoolboy and his old rivals are now trickling through to the Grand Slam circuit.
‘My mum’s mad for it,’ says the England fly-half, talking through the lesser-known side of his sporting life. ‘She’s the biggest Andy Murray fan and saw herself as Judy Murray 2.0 when she was shipping me around the country.
‘She’s all over it, follows all the fan pages, texts me whenever someone from my realms is playing. It’ll be, “Ooh, so and so is playing in… Azerbaijan”. I always think, “Mum, have you got nothing better to be doing?”’
This week has been no different, with one eye on the Australian Open and the string of British hopefuls he once shared a court with. ‘She messaged me the other day to say that Jacob Fearnley was beating Nick Kyrgios. I played against guys like Jacob. Arthur Fery, too.
‘They battered me, but I got a couple of points so I can sit on the couch at home saying, “I played against him”.
Fin Smith opens up to Nik Simon on his journey from tennis phenom to England fly-half
Smith, 22, has picked up only six England caps so far but is primed to make the 10 shirt his own
Smith, a trumpet player as a boy, with the statue of composer and trumper player Malcolm Arnold in Northampton town centre
‘Jack Draper was the year above me and he was always “the man”. It’s mad to see him doing so well. He’d turn up to tournaments with his big racket bag and everyone was like, “Oh my God, it’s Jack Draper!”’
So, would he have fancied his chances against the new British No 1? ‘If I’d got the right draw, I’d have dusted him up,’ Smith says with a cheeky smirk, settling into the corner of a cafe with a cookie and a coffee. He is here to talk rugby but it is hard to overlook the link back to his days with a racket.
‘I quit rugby for three years, from eight to 11, just focusing on tennis,’ he said. ‘It got to the point where I’d have to drop out of school and move to Spain to play so I stayed and picked up rugby again.
‘I like to think there are things I picked up that help me with rugby. Playing fly-half, you have a lot of moments where it’s just you. Goal-kicking, for sure. Maybe there’s some little bits of hand-eye coordination, the weight of your pass.
‘Tennis conditioned me to the mental side of it, being in your own head, as an individual. You make a lot more mistakes in a tennis match than a rugby match so it’s learning how to deal with that stuff.’
Most rugby players idolised Jonny Wilkinson growing up. Smith, who began playing rugby at the age of four at Shipston-on-Stour when Wilkinson was still in the England No 10 shirt that he now has his eyes on, looked to different sporting corners.
‘Novak Djokovic was my hero, my favourite sportsperson ever,’ says Smith. ‘He doesn’t have the maddest forehand or backhand but he’s just so switched on. The mental side he brings to it, he’s the man.
‘Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were more fashionable to support but he just doesn’t care. The whole crowd could be against him but he loves it. I love watching him in that situation. I would love for someone to describe my approach as similar to Djokovic.’
Smith as a boy, when his rivals were not opposition flankers but the tennis stars of the future
Smith made his England debut in last year’s Six Nations, coming off the bench against Italy
Smith was eligible to play for Scotland too, but the Warwick-born fly-half chose England
Smith is engaging company, and is being mentored by Jonny Wilkinson in the England camp
He pauses and sips his coffee. ‘Djokovic would probably be sat here drinking some blended juice that tastes like s***. Maybe that’s the difference between him. He wouldn’t be having a flat white and a Nutella cookie. Oh well.’
There are loose similarities between Smith and Djokovic. The Saints fly-half does not receive the adoration of players like Marcus Smith or Finn Russell, despite guiding Northampton to the Premiership title last year at such a young age and winning the Rugby Players’ Association Player of the Year. Resilience runs through his veins.
His name has been at the heart of the debate around England’s No 10 options for the Six Nations, with Fin often seen as the less fashionable option. He has been limited to just 107 minutes in an England shirt, across six appearances.
‘One thing that’s funny is the stick I get from the crowd,’ says Smith, who was eligible to play for Scotland through his grandfather, the Lions prop Tom Elliot. Both parents were born there too.
‘I’ve had people shouting, “You’re the s*** Finn!” or “Marcus! Oh wait… you’re the other Smith aren’t you!” It’s quite good craic to be fair. I guess that’s the best thing about sport… everyone has opinions.
‘No one ever says, “Ah, flippin heck, isn’t it lovely that you, George Ford and Marcus Smith are all playing well”. It always seems to be a case of, “He’s s***, he’s s*** and he’s good”.
‘It’s funny isn’t it? It’s like you can’t all co-exist together. Everyone has different views, people enjoy different styles and that’s great but it doesn’t change the player I am.’
Steve Borthwick has reached a stick or twist moment with his England selections with his third Six Nations campaign as head coach now just a week away. Marcus Smith was the standout performer during the autumn series but his individual excellence was not enough to steer the team to victory in the matches that mattered most, against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
He is confused by the stick he gets from fans, who taunt him as an unfashionable alternative to Finn Russell or Marcus Smith
England have found a way to get both Smiths in the same side, with Fin at 10 and Marcus at 15
Smith led Northampton to the Premiership title last season, winning RPA Player of the Year
He is part of one of the most dynamic attacks in the Premiership at Northampton Saints
The prospect of starting Fin at 10 and Marcus at 15 has been discussed at length, introducing a dual-Smith, dual-playmaker axis to the attack. The pair featured together briefly at the end of England’s autumn victory over Japan and Smith would relish the opportunity to revisit it during the Six Nations.
Marcus made no secret of his desires in a recent newspaper interview, declaring: ‘I am not shy in saying I want to play at 10. I enjoy getting my hands on the ball and I believe I am a No 10.’
So what does Fin think?
‘If I get an opportunity to start then brilliant, I’ll try to show what I can do,’ he says. ‘If I don’t, then I’ll keep working away. It’s something you can easily beat yourself up about, you could sit here thinking, “Ah I just want to start so badly, why’s it not happening?” But at the end of the day you just crack on.
‘You mention the combination with Marcus, that would be unreal. Flipping heck, to play with someone with that much quality would be class.
‘It could be an awesome way of doing it. You like to think your 10s see space as well as anyone. Quite often your 10 catches the ball off the 9 and you have a pod of forwards or a short runner, with that link player out the back. For some teams that might be a 12, or Marcus often sits in that role when he’s playing 15.
‘The level of communication you’d get would be quality. He’s used to managing the whole team, so with him at full-back the ball would be able to move slightly wider. Or you just give it to him and let him goosestep around everyone!’
Smith is engaging company, clearly comfortable in his own skin. The conversation goes off on tangents, talking about life away from the pitch. Playing the trumpet as a schoolboy, and his love of Aston Villa. It is easy to see why others enjoy playing with him.
Marcus (left) and Fin Smith both want the England No10 shirt but Fin is happy just to be playing alongside the Harlequins playmaker
After their opening assignment away to Ireland, England host France, Scotland and Italy before travelling to Wales to round out the campaign
So, how would he describe himself as a fly-half? ‘Good question,’ he says, pausing for thought.
‘I like to think I’m good at making other players feel like they know what they need to do, good at facilitating ways for them to get into the game.
‘If someone came up to me and said, “You’re a good facilitator, you make the attack flow nicely and get your outside backs on the ball”, then I’d be take pride in that.
‘I’m trying to add strings to my bow, running the ball better, finding more attacking kicking space. I really enjoy defending. When I go into a game and want to tackle, then I know I’m in a really good headspace.
‘Like the Djokovic stuff, I want to go out there and be intense. I know I’m there when I want to go out and defend. I make a lot of tackles in our defensive system at Saints but it’s a constant challenge of getting the balance right, because you don’t want your fly-half making loads of tackles on 120kg back rows.’
At Northampton, Smith has been working with the team sports psychologist, Oli Dixon, to improve his goal-kicking. Dixon helped Team GB shooter Nathan Hales win gold at last year’s Olympics and Smith has a similarly sharp eye for the target.
Smith has employed a team sports psychologist, Oli Dixo, to improve his goal-kicking
Borthwick has a major decision to make at fly-half with a week to go until the Six Nations
He also counts Wilkinson among his mentors. ‘We chat a lot about kicking. Jonny’s a very deep thinker about life and energy and all that stuff so just try to learn from him as much I can. It’s a kind of mentorship.
‘He comes in and kicks in England camp every other day. Outside of camp, maybe we’re in touch over text once a week. Sometimes we meet halfway and kick.
‘It’s funny because he’s such a humble guy, makes you feel important, then suddenly he’s getting mobbed and you remember he’s the GOAT.’
Time will tell whether Smith gets his run in Wilkinson’s old No 10 shirt. If he does get the nod, the shirt will certainly be in safe hands.
