Lions call-up reduced me to a sobbing wreck: Fin Smith

Fin Smith revealed that hearing his name read out during the Lions squad announcement reduced him to a sobbing wreck.

After what he describes as “the most horrific week of all time”, wondering whether he would get in Andy Farrell’s squad, the Northampton fly-half bawled his eyes out when he broke the news to his parents.

“I had sleepless nights and was stressing all day. Then that day comes and they didn’t half drag the announcement out either, did they? We thought it would be at 2pm and we ended up hearing at five to three. Then obviously I was sat with a load of the other (Saints) lads and watched the other boys get called out and was like: ‘Oh no, this is going to be awful if it doesn’t happen for me now.’ And then it got announced and I was an absolute wreck,” he revealed.

“I don’t really cry and never have, but I was bawling my eyes out. I went outside and phoned my parents. They were both sobbing, I was sobbing on the other end of the phone. We didn’t actually say a word to each other; we just sort of watched each other cry and then hung up the phone.

“It’s something so rare in sport these days that you find out in that manner. It really is that rare and raw. Mental. What a day. What a day.”

Smith, who turned 23, today, is one of a quartet of Northampton players named in the 28-man squad, along with half-back partner Alex Mitchell, winger Tommy Freeman and back-rower Henry Pollock.

While Smith’s Six Nations form for England had him firmly in the running for a spot, Smith believes his superb performance in out-playing opposite number and Lions rival Sam Prendergast, in Saints’ stunning Champions Cup semi-final win against Leinster, tipped the balance in his favour.

“I thought there was probably quite a lot riding on the game at the weekend,” he said referencing the Aviva Stadium victory.

“I was pretty nervous for that but happy with what I put out on the pitch in Dublin and gave it my best shot. Then, even if I wasn’t picked, I was happy with the last six months of rugby and it would be someone’s opinion versus someone else’s, so I could almost live with it.

“I must admit, as much as I try not to look at social media, as all these predicted squads were coming out I was thinking: ‘Hang on, I’m in a few of these. I might have a shot’. Then it was keeping everything crossed and, luckily, it went my way.”

Smith will shortly join his late grandfather Tom Elliot, a Scotland prop who toured South Africa with the 1955, in becoming a Lion.

“It gets my emotional thinking about it. I’ve grown up running around in his old kit and his old blazer,” he admitted.

“I believe that I’m English and play for England. He obviously played for Scotland, but all I’ve ever wanted to do is be like him and replicate him. To actually have the chance to do that and wear the same shirt and the same badge that he did is incredibly special.

“It made mum and her side of the family pretty emotional yesterday. They’re all at home with their Scottish accents and can half-heartedly cheer for me when I play for England but this is the pinnacle really and doing what he’s done and following in his footsteps in the main thing out of everything with this, for me. That’s what makes me more proud than any individual accolade I could have. It’s amazing. It’s pretty cool.”

Smith paid tribute to his head coach and director of rugby at Saints, Sam Vesty and Phil Dowson, for their role in helping him fulfil his lifelong dream.

“Vesty is just a rugby genius – he has taught me so much about the technical side of the game, little nuances, things I can better at from catching the ball half an inch squarer or looking somewhere with my eyes and doing something else with my body. Really niche stuff but when you add all that stuff together it adds up and goes a long way. I have learned so much from him rugby-wise.

“Me and Sam talk a lot. You would hate to look through our WhatsApp saved messages – it is just nausey rugby clips and screen clips of rugby sessions. But I want to get better and he wants me to go better and I feel like we are a combination that works fairly well as much as all the other lads would take the piss out of that.

“Dows is just more of like a mentor, surveys it all from the ground and backs me. As soon as I joined here, he was ‘mate, you are in, go and do your thing’.

“To have that sort of backing is why I came here as a 19-year-old who had just lost their job and had been playing at the bottom team in the league. That was quite rare to have that sort of confidence lumped on you and that has been enormous in my development.”

Smith celebrated his call-up with M&S food and champagne at Fraser Dingwall’s house.

He is in awe of how Dingwall and George Furbank, another potential candidate to make the trip, put their emotions to one side to congratulate their Oz-bound four as soon as their names were read out.

“Dingers and Furbs are two unbelievable players who could well have been in that squad. What a testament to those two in general, just as people. Dingers found out that he wasn’t in the squad as soon as Tommy’s name was read out, and he jumped straight over to him and gave him the biggest hug ever. It was genuine joy, and Furbs was just delighted,” he said.

“We went on and had a nice celebration that evening and Dingers was the one who hosted us all. He said: ‘Come over, I’ve got a couple of bottles of champagne for you guys. I’ll do a meal for you all.’

“To be as disappointed as I’m sure he was and to put that aside and show genuine happiness for your mates and realise it is a special day for them and want to be there for them… I don’t know how he did it. I’m not a good enough person to do that. I’d have told them all to f— off and sat at home.

“Fair play to him. What a guy. He’s amazing, isn’t he? What a guy. I’m obviously gutted for him but his shot will come, 100 per cent.”