Warm welcome was key to Smith's seamless Saints introduction

That is how George Furbank described Fin Smith when asked about the talented 20-year-old fly-half this week.

And that is exactly what Saints fans have seen from Smith since the day he pulled on the black, green and gold shirt for the first time.

So seamless has been his transition that questions surrounding Dan Biggar's departure have been silenced.

And so impressive has Smith been that it is easy to imagine him being the fulcrum of this Saints team for many years to come.

So just how has a player of such tender years been able to adapt so quickly to life at a club with such expectation, especially after the troubled times he experienced previously at Worcester Warriors.

“The guys here are great and they've made me feel super welcome and super comfortable already,” Smith said, paying tribute to his Saints team-mates.

“There's a good young English group here who have not got egos, who have all come through the Academy system and been in similar spots to what I'm in now.

“They're all super good, they get it and I feel I'm getting on with a lot of the guys already so it's been an easy transition.

“I'm living with Kayde Sylvester and Ed Prowse in a little house at Upton so it's been good because they're good lads.

“It's definitely helped me to settle in and credit to those boys - they've showed me the town and where's good to go and where's not good to go.”

Smith is clearly as unfazed by media duties as he is by those he is required to perform in the 10 shirt on a now weekly basis.

And he is clearly so grateful for the chance he has been given by Saints.

“Obviously I'm confident in what I can do rugby wise,” Smith said, when asked whether he has even surprised himself by how quickly he has settled into a starting role.

“I thought it would potentially take a bit longer to get some game time with Biggs and Jimmy Grayson as well, but with Dan moving to Toulon and James having an injury, it's happened that I've been the one who's been playing.

“I've been massively grateful for that and it's helped me massively that I've had the shirt.

“It's allowed me to settle in and have my voice heard across the group so I've been incredibly fortunate with that.

“I've been happy with how I've been going so far and there's plenty more stuff I can build on.”

There can have been few more accomplished introductions to life at the Gardens than Smith's as he shone against Bristol Bears, Exeter Chiefs and Saracens last month.

In fact, he slotted each of his first 17 kicks at goal in an incredible start to his Saints kicking career.

“I don't know what happened,” Smith said, smiling broadly. “I don't think I'd kicked the ball so well in my life!

“Having Jake Sharp here, who does the kicking coaching, has been great. I've learned a lot from him.

“I suppose I had about three months off before that just to practice my kicking and not do a lot else so I've been working hard at it and it was good.

“Kicking on this pitch at the Gardens was definitely a factor because it's such a nice surface.

“They just happened to be going the right way for me.

“I need to get the streak going again because I've missed a couple and I'll be working on that this weekend.”

Smith suffered a jaw injury during pre-season and was sidelined for months before joining Saints.

But even though he was battling fatigue in his first few appearances, he still managed to land the penalties and conversions required.

“I was pretty much useless apart from the kicking stuff towards the end of the first couple of matches I played because I was pretty much the walking dead with the way my body was struggling,” Smith said.

“But they were going the right side of the posts, which was good.

“I'm glad that was happening.”

Smith is surrounded by a group of hungry, young players at Saints.

And he says seeing how much they have developed has been a big thing for him.

“That comes from the coaching and how much they're always keen to develop players,” Smith said.

“I'm hoping I'm in a good spot and playing games at a high level and in games where we're getting good results and getting good performances.

“If the team is playing well, hopefully I can be a part of that and hopefully get some heads turning international wise and put my best foot forward.

“It's every rugby player's goal to be playing at the highest level so I definitely have high aspirations to be doing that.”

Smith was spotted in the England camp last month, but he could still opt to play for Scotland.

When it was jokingly suggested to him that his English team-mates at Saints, and his Scottish one (Rory Hutchinson) have probably been trying to influence his decision on which country to represent, he said: “Something like that.

“At the moment for me, it's just about trying to ensure my form is as good as it can be and that decision will make itself in the near future.

“But there's no rush.

“I'm just telling Hutch to wait, I think.”