Representing The British & Irish Lions is in the family for Fin Smith, who will follow in the footsteps of his grandfather when he tours Australia this summer.
The Northampton Saints fly-half has been rewarded for some stellar displays for club and country with a first Lions call-up at the age of just 23.
But his association with the Lions goes back a lot further with grandfather Tom Elliot having been part of the Lions squad that toured South Africa back in 1955.
This is how he made it to the top:
Family connections
Smith might have been born south of the border but his rugby heritage has a very Scottish feel, with grandad Tom Elliot a Lion in his own right 70 years ago.
The prop played eight games on that Tour, and the rugby bug was clearly passed on down the generations, with some of Elliot’s old Lions stash being commandeered by his grandson.
After finding out he had been selected, Smith reminisced: “I’ve grown up running around in his 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.
“I’ve got his old blazer at home. It’s a bit dusty and there are a few holes in it, but it’ll be cool to have both of those.”
Smith started playing rugby for Shipston-on-Stour and Warwick School where he grew up, before joining the Worcester Warriors academy.
It was there that Matt Sherratt, the interim Wales head coach, played a big part in helping him realise his potential.
Smith was just 18 when he made his senior debut for the team, but Sherratt was the driving force in his development.
Smith explained: “He actually sat me down for a really honest conversation that I won’t forget when I was midway through my first year as an 18-year-old.
“He was saying Jonny [Wilkinson], Faz [Owen Farrell], [George] Fordy were all playing week in, week out and if you want to get to that level, which he said at the time that he thought I could, then I really need to push on and not to follow the same trajectory that the boys in the academy, who were the same age as me, were on.
“It’s easy to turn up, follow the schedule like everyone else does, weights then meetings. He was just like, ‘if you want to take that step you’ve got to be doing things slightly differently to everyone else’, so he encouraged me to get in and kick on my days off, use my free time to look at video, be practising my skills, my passing. That was really good.”
Replacing a Lion
It has clearly worked, with Smith becoming an important player for Warriors despite his tender age, as well as playing a key role in England Under-20s winning the Grand Slam in 2021.
When Smith had his contract terminated along with the rest of the Warriors players, following the liquidation of the company to which they were contracted, he moved to Northampton Saints.
Like ships passing in the night, his arrival coincided with the mid-season departure of Dan Biggar, the duo only spending a day at the club together before the Wales and Lions fly-half set off for Toulon.
Four years on from Biggar starting all three Tests in South Africa, Smith will hope to follow in the footsteps of his Saints predecessor.
England emergence and split family allegiances
With Biggar having departed, Smith has quickly settled as the main playmaker at Saints, forming a high-quality half-back pairing with Alex Mitchell.
He is very close to another 2025 Lion, Tommy Freeman, and the duo have worked hand in hand for club and country.
Smith got his first call-up for the 2024 Guinness Six Nations, during a season in which he steered Saints to a first Premiership title in a decade.
He has backed that up in style, with a Player of the Match display against France in his first England start, kicking the winning conversion in a one-point victory over the eventual Six Nations champions. He followed that up with a match-winning penalty from halfway to regain the Calcutta Cup for the first time in five years.
Even better was his performance away to Leinster in Dublin, as Northampton reached the Champions Cup final at the expense of the Irish giants.
After showing he is a man for the big occasion, Smith will now hope to shine in the red of the Lions alongside Mitchell, Freeman and Henry Pollock, the youngest player in the squad.
And with a Scotland-supporting family who find themselves in a tricky position during the Calcutta Cup, there will be no such divided loyalties when it comes to the Lions.
Speaking of his dad, Smith said: “This is the first time he’ll be able to cheer for me properly in a little while, so that’ll be nice. (My family are) 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.
"Doing what he’s done and following in (Elliot’s) 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.”
