{"id":178741,"date":"2025-10-04T09:51:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T09:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/178741\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T09:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T09:51:07","slug":"fin-smith-signs-new-contract-at-northampton-saints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/178741\/","title":{"rendered":"Fin Smith signs new contract at Northampton Saints"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In just three seasons in Black, Green and Gold, Smith has enjoyed a rapid rise after succeeding Dan Biggar in Saints\u2019 No.10 jersey.<\/p>\n<p>He was named the Club\u2019s Young Player of the Season after his debut campaign in 2023, before claiming the prize again the following year as well as the Players\u2019 Player of the Season award. That sensational 2023\/24 season saw Smith steer Northampton to Gallagher PREM glory and an Investec Champions Cup semi-final, and he was also named the RPA Players\u2019 Player of the Year and in the Gallagher PREM Team of the Season.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, Smith\u2019s controlled performances in Black, Green and Gold helped <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northamptonsaints.co.uk\/person\/phil-dowson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Phil Dowson<\/a>\u2019s side reach their first Investec Champions Cup final since 2011.<\/p>\n<p>His ascent started at Shipston-on-Stour RFC, before he joined Warwick School and was picked up by Warriors \u2013 where he signed on full-time in 2020 and went on to become their youngest-ever player to start in a PREM match in March 2021, aged just 18 years and 313 days.<\/p>\n<p>Since joining Saints, Smith has accumulated 589 points in three seasons, scoring five tries, landing 177 conversions and 66 penalties, and kicking four drop-goals \u2013 including one in the in the PREM Final success over Bath Rugby at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a huge testament to this Club that we\u2019ve secured Fin\u2019s signature,\u201d said Saints\u2019 Director of Rugby, Phil Dowson. \u201cFin is a world-class player who\u2019s been outstanding for us since he joined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe arrived at a time that was incredibly difficult for him personally, considering the demise of Worcester Warriors, and then had the added the pressure of stepping into Dan Biggar\u2019s shoes. Fin has never once shied away from any of it; he\u2019s not looked back and has more than stepped up into that leadership role at fly-half for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In just three seasons in Black, Green and Gold, Smith has enjoyed a rapid rise after succeeding Dan&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-178741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}