{"id":526624,"date":"2026-04-12T09:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/526624\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T09:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:40:14","slug":"i-wish-i-had-approached-the-lions-tour-differently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/526624\/","title":{"rendered":"I wish I had approached the Lions tour differently"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even before the game, Smith had made a decision to delete the social media app X on his phone. \u201cI was sort of reflecting on this is great when I\u2019m doing well, I\u2019m reading nice stuff about the team on there and reading nice stuff on myself on there,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut actually, if I\u2019m sort of using that to almost dictate how I\u2019m feeling about myself, then actually, what\u2019s the point?\u201d<\/p>\n

At least both Smith and England managed to finish the Six Nations on an encouraging note in their 48-46 defeat by France<\/a>. While Smith says he was \u201cpretty dark\u201d about the loss in the immediate aftermath, he says that the attacking performance was \u201ca decent blueprint for how we want to look at a team\u201d. 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. \u201cI think that France week, we just really focused on our attack a little bit more, and that\u2019s probably why it seemed to flow slightly better,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt was that rather than it being, \u2018Yeah look this week, we\u2019re just gonna chuck it around and sack off what we\u2019ve been doing before.\u2019 It was just probably that we were executing it slightly better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming out of the Six Nations, Smith went for a week\u2019s holiday in Majorca with his girlfriend \u2013 \u201cWe were going to go to Dubai but that probably was not the most sensible trip idea\u201d \u2013 allowing him to thoroughly decompress. His mind cleared, his body rested, he returned to Northampton with a renewed focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re 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,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThere\u2019s 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\u2019s never an element where it feels like,\u2018I\u2019ve got to go do this now.\u2019 It\u2019s just fun, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFun\u201d is exactly what Friday night\u2019s Champions Cup<\/a> quarter-final against Bath is, in a match-up of English rugby\u2019s 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. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a big one, definitely,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWhen the lights come on on a Friday night, you know this is going to be tasty. We\u2019re pretty much close to a full international side, and they\u2019ll be the same. Because of what\u2019s gone in the years before, obviously the Prem final a couple of years ago, and some of the big games we\u2019ve had against them in the last couple of years, this one will have a bit of spice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even before the game, Smith had made a decision to delete the social media app X on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[7166,82642,79323,5903,23451,217,101,5438,58919,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-526624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-england-rugby-union-team","9":"tag-fin-smith","10":"tag-northampton-saints","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-rugby-union","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-standard","16":"tag-top-story","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526624","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=526624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}