Saints sign highly-rated fly-half Smith

Smith, who is 20 years old, arrives at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens from Worcester Warriors, where he has progressed through the Academy set-up.

The talented No.10 became the youngest-ever player to start for Warriors in the Gallagher Premiership in March 2021, when he lined up against Bath at the age of just 18 years and 313 days.

He has made 31 senior appearances to date for Worcester, but recently found himself out of contract after the Sixways club was wound up.

Smith's form at Worcester previously earned him a selection for England Under-20s for the 2021 Six Nations in Cardiff.

He was influential in the Red Rose’s Grand Slam-winning campaign, scoring 31 points in five matches including a try against Scotland.

Smith was named again in England Under-20s EPS for 2022, but did not feature during the Six Nations as he instead held down the No.10 jersey for Warriors in the Premiership, during a campaign which also saw him lift the Premiership Rugby Cup.

And he will now make the move to Saints, where he will compete with the likes of Dan Biggar, who is leaving the club next summer, James Grayson and Matty Arden for starts at fly-half.

“Fin is definitely a player who has been on our radar for a long time, and the whole coaching group are big admirers of his,” said Saints boss Phil Dowson.

“He is someone that always takes the ball to the line, makes good decisions from an attacking point of view, has a bit of flair about him with an offloading game, and is incredibly brave and tough in defence.

“Everyone from within the Worcester and England Under-20s environments has nothing but good things to say about him.

"He seems to have a really good variation on his kicking game as well, and when you meet him in person you can see how mature, driven and ambitious he is.

“If you put that sort of skillset together with that attitude, you’ve got a really high-potential player who is really keen to compete – but at the age of just 20 he’s got a lot of learning and growing to do as well.

“We always talk about wanting competition within the squad, and I am really excited to see Fin, James Grayson, and Dan Biggar push each other and make each other better as they compete for the No.10 jersey at Saints.”