Even before the game, Smith had made a decision to delete the social media app X on his phone. “I was sort of reflecting on this is great when I’m doing well, I’m reading nice stuff about the team on there and reading nice stuff on myself on there,” Smith said. “But actually, if I’m sort of using that to almost dictate how I’m feeling about myself, then actually, what’s the point?”
At least both Smith and England managed to finish the Six Nations on an encouraging note in their 48-46 defeat by France. While Smith says he was “pretty dark” about the loss in the immediate aftermath, he says that the attacking performance was “a decent blueprint for how we want to look at a team”. Smith disputes the notion that a handbrake was suddenly lifted in Paris, but does admit that the attack received a renewed focus in the build-up. “I think that France week, we just really focused on our attack a little bit more, and that’s probably why it seemed to flow slightly better,” Smith said. “It was that rather than it being, ‘Yeah look this week, we’re just gonna chuck it around and sack off what we’ve been doing before.’ It was just probably that we were executing it slightly better.”
Coming out of the Six Nations, Smith went for a week’s holiday in Majorca with his girlfriend – “We were going to go to Dubai but that probably was not the most sensible trip idea” – allowing him to thoroughly decompress. His mind cleared, his body rested, he returned to Northampton with a renewed focus.
“We’re so clear of the standard that we expect of each other in training that you almost just catch back up with how the rest of the group and sort of just fall into line,” Smith said. “There’s also the element that we just love it. I love coming here and training with my mates, and love how we play here. I love competing, I love just running around and playing rugby. There’s never an element where it feels like,‘I’ve got to go do this now.’ It’s just fun, isn’t it?”
“Fun” is exactly what Friday night’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Bath is, in a match-up of English rugby’s two outstanding teams. The contest against Finn Russell, the man who beat him to the Lions No 10 jersey, will be box-office viewing on its own. “It’ll be a big one, definitely,” Smith said. “When the lights come on on a Friday night, you know this is going to be tasty. We’re pretty much close to a full international side, and they’ll be the same. Because of what’s gone in the years before, obviously the Prem final a couple of years ago, and some of the big games we’ve had against them in the last couple of years, this one will have a bit of spice.”