‘It’s hard to take… it hurts’ – Fin Smith on losing England place

Fin Smith, the fly-half for Northampton, claims that this autumn, he has had a hard time adjusting to dropping down England’s pecking order.

Smith, 23, made his first England start with a 26-25 victory over France in February, and he was still wearing the number 10 for the Six Nations victories over Wales, Italy, and Scotland.

However, after Smith’s summer tour with the British and Irish Lions, Marcus Smith was chosen ahead of him for three of England’s four autumn internationals, with Marcus Smith frequently being preferred on the bench.

It hurts to have your head around a few of the selection issues because you have such high expectations going in after winning the Six Nations and traveling with the Lions.

It is difficult to accept, he said. Although having that removed from you does hurt, I have absolutely loved how comfortable it feels to wear the England 10 shirt.

There is always someone who is unsatisfied, who might have a little bit of frustration, admits England assistant coach Kevin Sinfield, who admitted during the autumn that it was impossible to keep all three of England’s fly-halves content.

Smith claims that the coaching staff and the coaching staff communicate regularly and honestly.

Steve [Borthwick] heads up to you to explain where you are with selection and why he has chosen what he has, he said.

He is ultimately the one who chooses the team, despite the fact that I always have my side of the story and put my opinion forward.

“George absolutely did that, especially in that All Blacks game,” George said, “It’s not that I played badly; it’s just that sometimes in sport people get an opportunity and take it.”

Smith’s performances on the Lions’ Australian tour irritated him.

He didn’t put pressure on first-choice 10 Finn Russell, who had Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell preferred on the bench during the Test series, before starting the pre-tour against Argentina in Dublin.

However, he enjoyed playing alongside players he frequently plays against and being a member of an institution that his maternal grandfather, Tom Elliot, visited South Africa with in 1955.

The Lions’ initial 38-man squad included 12 Leinster players.

Four players were given to Northampton in Smith, Tommy Freeman, Henry Pollock, and Alex Mitchell, who had defeated Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-finals five days prior to the squad announcement.

According to Smith, “It was amazing as a life experience in terms of the some of the memories I made and the people I met.”

Simply put, “It was a fantastic group of people.”

I anticipated that James Ryan, a fellow Lion and Linster second row, would be very different from me. He is a little nasty when playing against him, but he is a prototype of Alex Cole from Northampton and England, with a very intelligent and dry sense of humor. I really liked him.