Saints face Bordeaux Begles in the Champions Cup final in Cardiff on Saturday, bouncing back after dumping Leinster out in stunning fashion in the semi-finals in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
That five-try win over the hot favourites had Vesty’s attacking fingerprints all over it, and a repeat would cap a remarkable few years for fly-half Smith.
And the 23-year-old has found a soulmate in Vesty, right, who shares a similar passion for unlocking opponents and will show Smith his blueprint for Bordeaux in the morning.
Smith said: “They will come to us with a rough idea on Monday and say ‘would you rather do this lineout play, or this scrum?’ And we can have a bit of a chat about it.
Rugby Nauses
“Me and Sam talk a lot. You would hate to look through our WhatsApp saved messages – it is just nausey rugby clips and screen clips of rugby sessions but I want to get better and he wants me to get better.
“I feel like we are a combination that works fairly well as much as all the other lads take the p***.
“Before the Leinster match we had four weeks with our best squad fit and had such a confidence about the group that, to some extent, it almost didn’t matter who we played the following week because we knew our game and if we played well, we would beat anyone.
“So, that was the main thing. Bordeaux are an unbelievable side but we will be focussing on us as much as possible but trying not to give some of their freak wingers space is No.1 on that agenda.”
Smith was at Worcester when the club went under but he has put his foot on the accelerator at Northampton, winning the Premiership last season, becoming England‘s No.1 fly-half this season and becoming a British & Irish Lion.
Coaches Help in Development
And he credits the top men at Northampton with his rise to the top this season and rapid development.
“They have helped me a huge amount. Vesty is just a rugby genius,” said Smith.
“He has taught me so much about the technical side of the game, little nuances, things I can better at from catching the ball half an inch squarer or looking somewhere with my eyes and doing something else with my body.
“Really niche stuff but when you add all that stuff together it goes a long way. I have learned so much from him rugbywise.
“Dows is more of like a mentor, surveys it all from the ground and backs me. As soon as I joined here he was ‘mate, you are in, go and do your thing’. To have that sort of backing is why I came here as a 19-year-old who had just lost their job and had been playing at the bottom team in the league.
“That was quite rare to have that sort of confidence lumped on you and that has been enormous in my development.”
By Adam Hathway
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