The British & Irish Lions is the dream of any young rugby player from the home nations but Fin Smith had more reason than most to want to make it a reality.

It is now 70 years since his grandfather, the Scotland prop Tom Elliot, toured South Africa with the Lions, and two generations on, Smith will follow in his footsteps.

The Northampton Saints fly-half has enjoyed a whirlwind rise to the top, only making his first Test start for England during the Guinness Six Nations – producing a Player of the Match performance in a win over eventual champions France.

Turning 23 over the weekend, his ascent might have gained even greater recognition if not for the emergence of his Saints teammate Henry Pollock, still 20 and the youngest player named in Andy Farrell’s squad.

Still, Smith’s story is a remarkable one in its own right, and in a Scotland-supporting family where allegiances are tested every time he pulls on a white jersey, there will no split loyalties when he is decked out in red this summer.

Smith said: “It’s the pinnacle really isn’t it? It gets me emotional thinking about it. I’ve grown up running around in his (Elliot’s) old kit and his old blazer. 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 is 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.”

While Smith’s progress internationally has been relatively recent, at club level, he has come into his own with Saints.

Stepping into the void left by 2021 Lions Test starter Dan Biggar, who departed Franklin’s Gardens the same week that Smith joined from Worcester Warriors, the fly-half has been hugely influential in the club’s rise.

That involved a second-ever Premiership title last season, and now a return to the Champions Cup final for the first time in a decade and a half following an outstanding display against Leinster in Dublin last weekend.

Four Northampton players were named in the Lions squad as a result, equal second with Glasgow Warriors in terms of representation behind Leinster, with Smith and Pollock joined by scrum-half Alex Mitchell and winger Tommy Freeman.

They were all in the same room together to watch on as Ieuan Evans revealed who had made the cut. And it said a lot about the spirit at the club that skipper Fraser Dingwall, who would have had dreams of making the squad himself, was the first to congratulate the happy quartet.

Smith explained: “It’s mad isn’t it? Dingers and Furbs (George Furbank) 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.

“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? I’m obviously gutted for him but his shot will come, 100 per cent.”

Such had been Smith’s performances in 2025 especially that he was included in most pundits’ predicted squads, even with a huge amount of competition at fly-half.

That is not to say that there were not a few nerves flying around as the names were being read out, particularly as the last contender alphabetically from Saints.

He added: “I was sat with a load of the other 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.

“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.”

From South Africa in 1955 to Australia in 2025, this Lions journey has been a family affair with the next chapter set to be written Down Under.