Fin Smith – Northampton Saints
Northampton’s third uncapped player in the latest England squad, Fin Smith rounds off the Saints contributions for England’s bright-looking future. The fly-half has understandably not been able to break into the senior squad as of yet, as Borthwick’s recent decision making for the number 10 jersey has revolved around the Owen Farrell – Marcus Smith – George Ford selection saga.
However, Fin could well be on his way to becoming the latest ‘Smith’ to run out at fly half for England. Borthwick will see the upcoming warm-up matches as opportunities to test his top names, but he will also want to reduce any potential injury risk as much as he can ahead of the World Cup. Fin Smith could well get his test debut against the likes of Fiji, and save Farrell or Marcus from any further battering at the hands of the Pacific Islanders.
The 21-year-old has proven his ability from the tee this season, slotting an impressive 115 points for the Saints in the 2022/23 Premiership campaign. Likes his namesake in Marcus, Fin Smith carries the ball high to the defensive line, before shipping the ball off to create line-breaking opportunities. The halfback is often hit hard in contact, yet has the resiliency to bounce back and get set for the upcoming phase of fearless attack.
Fin Smith also directly created six tries for the Saints this season, and scored two of his own as Northampton reached the semi-finals of the play-offs. An excellent distributor of the ball from first receiver, Smith made 193 successful passes throughout the latest Premiership campaign, and made just one unsuccessful passing mistake all season.
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