‘I need to perform’ – Fin Smith raring for Leinster ‘Test match’ in final British and Irish Lions audition
Northampton Saints fly-half Fin Smith in action in the 2024/25 season.
British and Irish Lions hopeful Fin Smith is under no illusions ahead of Northampton Saints’ Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster, feeling he needs to perform in this one to put himself in the driving seat to go on the tour to Australia.
Smith, who usurped Marcus Smith as England’s starting fly-half during the Six Nations, will go head-to-head with main Lions competitor Sam Prendergast this Saturday – just five days before Andy Farrell names his touring party for the series.
‘It’s a Test match’
Smith and the rest of the Saints do have some form of idea of the task presented in front of them this weekend after facing the Irish juggernauts at this exact stage last season. Northampton were left rueing a slow start that day, though, as they slipped to a 20-17 defeat.
Avenging this defeat won’t come easily, though. Leo Cullen’s men have lost just two matches all season, and in their last two Champions Cup games have scored 114 unanswered points.
“Leinster are in a league of their own,” said the England fly-half. “There probably aren’t many games we’ve played since last year’s semi-final that’s going to prepare us for Leinster this weekend. They’re unbelievable.”
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But, Northampton are a different beast to the side that ventured to Croke Park a year ago. They have since lifted their first Premiership title in a decade, beating Bath in last year’s final at Twickenham, and now form the core of Steve Borthwick’s England side.
“It’s a Test match at the end of the day. But since last year, we’ve had a lot of members of our squad playing international games that are of similar intensity.”
Lions hopes?
This game could also be a defining one for a lot of the players on the pitch, with Farrell naming his Lions squad next Thursday (May 8).
Across the two sides, there will be a number of key head-to-heads, including James Lowe v Tommy Freeman, Jamison Gibson-Park v Alex Mitchell and even Josh van der Flier v Henry Pollock; however, none are more intriguing than Prendergast v Smith.
This time last year, nobody would have thought the pair would be in the mix for the tour, with Finn Russell and Marcus Smith dominating the talk around Lions fly-halves then, but now they are both firmly in contention after excelling for Ireland and England, respectively.
This match also represents their final chance to impress ahead of that squad announcement, and Smith detailed that he is under no illusions of what he needs to do to make his mark.
“A call-up would be the pinnacle,” Smith said on the Lions. “I’ve always said that in my rugby career my number one would be winning a World Cup, closely followed up by a Lions tour.
“I’m under no illusion that this is a big, big game, as close as you’re going to get for that tour in the summer, so I need to perform.”
