‘My parents are Scottish but I have wanted to play for England my whole life’

Fly-half star Fin Smith tells Harry Latham-Coyle about his roots and that match-winning Six Nations try against France

- Harry Latham-Coyle

The London Scottish clubhouse may seem a peculiar place to embark on the life and times of England’s new fly-half star, but the rickety Richmond hangout is where Fin Smith’s story really begins. It was here, two miles or so from Twickenham, where Smith’s mother Judith first set eyes on his father, Andrew: two Scots not then knowing they would one day produce a player who will spend much of next week plotting their own nation’s sporting demise.

“I don’t actually want to know too much about that!” Smith says, understandably not wishing to dwell on his parents’ rugby union. But it serves to highlight that, in a different life and different circumstances, he would have been proudly wearing a thistle rather than a rose on his chest.

Indeed, there is a greater familial connection to the Scotland side, one on which Smith is rather happier to elaborate. “My granddad, Tom Elliot, was a loosehead for Scotland and he played for the British and Irish Lions as well,” the 22-year-old says. “He sadly passed away before I was born but growing up, me and my brother would put on his Lions cap and his Scotland cap, so to see all his old ties and blazers was pretty cool and something I want to replicate.

“They’re both Scottish, my parents. Mum’s mum lives in the Borders, Dad’s parents live in Dunfermline. I’ve told my dad he’s got to be neutral next weekend if I’m playing. He’s definitely going to be singing one of the two anthems – maybe both if I’m lucky.”

It feels inconceivable after such a composed showing on his first England start, but the Scotland door was not closed that long ago. It is only a year since Smith’s Test bow in the last Six Nations settled his international future, having been the subject of discussions on both sides of the border since his formative days at Shipston-on-Stour Rugby Club and Warwick School.