Back in March, Thomas Tuchel stepped out of his footballing world and picked up a rugby ball at England’s Six Nations training camp. The German manager asked plenty of questions on his visit to Pennyhill Park.
‘How do you lift the forwards in a lineout?’ ‘Why do you name your team so early in the week?’ ‘Why are the players so vocal in meetings?’
But there was one conversation in particular that stuck with Fin Smith, the England and Northampton No 10. Smith explains: ‘Thomas said, “If we have a small game going on over here and a small game going on over there, then I will watch the game that Jordan Henderson is not involved in”. He knew he didn’t need to worry about Hendo’s game.
‘Everyone talks so highly about what he does behind the scenes. He almost drives the whole training standard. He’s not the most talented footballer in the world in terms of skills, shooting and pace and that probably resonates a little bit with me rugby-wise. That’s the kind of thing you can control, unlike pace and stepping around people. I listen to people talk about him and think “That’s cool, I’d like people to say that about me”.’
Reports from England’s World Cup camp in Florida this week describe how Henderson has been tweaking rules in training drills on the hoof. Operating like a secondary coach.
It is a long way from Palm Beach Gardens, USA, to Franklin’s Gardens, Northamptonshire, but Smith hopes to have a similar impact as his team prepare for their PREM play-off against Leicester on Friday night.
England No10 Fin Smith is preparing to lead Northampton Saints into their PREM play-off against Leicester on Friday night
Smith has been trying to add some French flair to his game. ‘I’ve been watching guys like Matthieu Jalibert and Sacha Feinberg-Mgomezulu. That mindset is something I’ve been working on’
‘I’ve got so much respect for how the footballers back up games Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday,’ Smith tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘They play so many games. The mental control they have to get up and switch off is very impressive. It takes a lot of work to back up big play-offs and big Six Nations games. Those guys do it in front of 60,000 people, with all that scrutiny, three times a week.
‘We’ve had guys like Gareth Southgate and [Southampton goalkeeper] Aaron Ramsdale come in, too. They always say how bizarre it is that players speak up in meetings, the captain stands up at the front. Apparently in football, the manager speaks, everyone listens, then they leave.
‘With England, I probably speak once a week, trying to drive the attacking plan a little bit. Less so at Northampton, because at your club you’ve been together for such a long time and you know your game plan so well. You’ve had months and years to fine-tune it.’
Last weekend, Northampton became the first team to ever score 100 tries in a season. They are the most free-flowing team in the top four, searching out space and keeping the ball alive in attack. They train with a tennis ball to improve their handling skills and are the league’s great entertainers.
‘You watch football and some teams, like Arsenal, are slower and more structured with their build up, big set-piece teams. We’re more like a Man City or PSG style, where we want to be pretty loose and pretty fluid.
‘If you watch us play, I like to think you won’t just see Tommy Freeman standing on the right wing because he’s a right winger. He’ll pop up 30 times across the pitch. I don’t want to just get the ball from the No 9 and pass it to the next guy. We’d rather do things fast than just have the best people in the best positions.’
He continues: ‘Sam Vesty [the Northampton attack coach] is very good at making sure everyone knows their individual role in attack. This group has been playing together for such a long time now that we’re in a spot where there’s not too much thinking involved.
‘My role is to see space, whether that’s on an edge, in behind, or in front of me. How do I get the ball there as quickly as possible? That might be using a pod of forwards, that might be me running off 9, that might be me calling a backs’ move.
‘My role is to see space, whether that’s on an edge, in behind, or in front of me. How do I get the ball there as quickly as possible?’
Smith learnt plenty from Thomas Tuchel when the England football coach visited the England rugby squad earlier in the year
‘Something Lee Blackett [the England attack coach] has helped me with a lot this year is with that French style of staying in the play, rather than setting up the next phase. Thinking about my support, getting on the end of line-breaks.
‘The English teams are quite structured and take a couple of good phases of attack, nice shapes, almost like rugby league, to score. The French guys get a half shoulder and then it’s offload, offload, try.
‘I’ve been watching guys like Matthieu Jalibert and Sacha Feinberg-Mgomezulu. That mindset is something I’ve been really working on and I feel like that’s served me well in taking my attack forward.’
Smith is 11 years younger than Henderson but he has taken young scrum-half Archie McParland under his wing this season. Injuries to established scrum-half Alex Mitchell threatened to disrupt Northampton’s attacking flow but McParland has improved the club’s armoury. Recently he was rewarded with a call-up to England’s training squad.
‘If you’d asked me a year ago, I’d say Mitch and Archie couldn’t be more different. Mitch is the most laid back, play-off-instincts person I know. Archie was a real thinker, calculating everything that’s happened, good or bad.
‘The game against Bath away [a 41-12 victory in December] was a massive turning point for Archie. There was no pressure, the shackles were off, and he just had a crack from everywhere. He’s carried that mindset into the rest of the season. He’s gone from someone who thinks a lot to someone who is confident and playing off instincts.
‘There’s not much difference between playing with the pair of them now. They’re running around the breakdown, good passing game, good dummy. It’s been fun.’
On Friday night, Leicester will look to use their physicality to disrupt Northampton’s attack. Having booked their place in the play-offs last month, Northampton’s players have been able to coast through the final rounds of the regular season. The Tigers outmuscled Northampton in a 41-17 victory last month and they must match their aggression in the do-or-die derby.
Archie McParland in action against Gloucester last month. Smith has been mightily impressed by the young scrum-half. ‘He’s gone from someone who thinks a lot to someone who is confident and playing off instincts’
George Furbank scores against Gloucester and Smith will be sorry to see the full-back Saints. ‘Seeing Furbs lifting the trophy after everything we’ve been through would be a fairy-tale ending,’ he says
‘Knowing you’ve qualified and trying to build a big narrative and motivation is hard. In the back of your head, you know you’re already in the semis,’ says Smith. ‘It’s a challenge because you want to build momentum.
‘One thing we’ve got out of the last few weeks is we’ve not played well but we’ve won. We’ve been down on the scoreboard in the 78th minute and won and those experiences probably count for a fair bit towards the end of the season.
‘You can look around the building in a play-off week and see in everyone’s eyes that they’re ready to go. We’ve got a few guys leaving. George Furbank is one of my best friends, one of the best players I’ve ever played with, and someone the group cares about a lot.
‘The same goes for James Ramm, Sam Graham, Elliott Millar Mills. We want another week together. If the last bit of time we spent together as teammates is lifting the trophy, that is something you couldn’t beat. Seeing Furbs lifting the trophy after everything we’ve been through would be a fairy-tale ending.’
Just like Tuchel and Henderson, Smith is dreaming of a summer of silverware.
