Finn Smith has shared his thoughts on Northampton's agonizing defeat in the Investec Champions Cup last Saturday against Leinster. The Premier League leaders found their way back from a 3-20 deficit early in the second half to leave URC defending frantically in the final minutes before the game finally ended with the Irish winning 17-20 and progressing to the final on 25 May versus Toulouse. In Tottenham.
The 21-year-old Smith played a key role in Saints' comeback, registering a plethora of tackles as well as controlling the attack as he also managed two confident touchline conversions in front of a record attendance of 82,300 made up mainly of Leinster fans.
Now back in the East Midlands ahead of next Saturday's Premier League Round 17 clash at home to Gloucester, Smith mirrored what happened in Dublin as Northampton found themselves two tries down after just 15 minutes and looked vulnerable to a potential hideout before they finally caught the break and clawed their way back. Another to compete.
“The word chaos has been thrown around a bit,” Smith explained when interviewed on The Rugby Pod about the semi-final. There was no finger pointing about what they did [Leinster] We did and didn't do, but chaos has always existed in Europe.
“They pushed the limits well and maybe we didn't do that as much. Fair play to them, they were very good and we didn't give our best.
“It was a really frustrating dressing room after that, in all honesty. As good as they were, we felt like maybe we didn't give it our all and we could have done it another day, but what can you do?
Smith, the two-time England rookie, who celebrates his 22nd birthday next Saturday, spoke in detail about what was happening in those collisions. “they [Leister] They would throw everything into each collapse whether they were messing with the jackal, then let him wait a few seconds and throw two bodies in it.
“I think it's always a little different in Europe. You're allowed to walk around a little bit more, maybe just snack with your hands on the floor a little bit.
“Or if you're hitting someone and you're knocked off your feet, if you hit the person first, you get away with it a little bit more. But that's just something we haven't adapted to well and they had to be fair.”
“Credit to them and what they were doing to us. They had more linear speed than we're normally used to encountering, but like I said about the breakdown, it was taking a few more seconds for the ball to get out of that. He was swaying around.
“And then I also think it showed that maybe we haven't played in a lot of those big away games. It took us about 20 to 25 minutes to catch up to the intensity, not just physically but we were probably less mentally sharp than them early on.”
“We were doing some stupid things that we wouldn't normally do like offloading, being sloppy, things like that. When you have more time in the Prem and you get away with things like that, against a top team like that, they really punished us for that.” It definitely took some time to warm up to it.
“It was right, just as hard as we've played all year. We like to play fast, and they did, too. I looked at the clock about 30 minutes later and it was like '***'. It was a decent game. They were beating us, We were beating them and it was good to be part of them.
- Click here to listen to this week's edition of The Rugby Pod featuring Northampton's Finn Smith
