With the men in Black, Green and Gold set to play in their first Investec Champions Cup semi-final since 2011 tomorrow evening, fly-half Fin Smith is excited for the occasion with the game set to be played in front of a sold-out Croke Park.
The away side have already created memories in Ireland this season, having beaten Munster 26-23 in the group stage – with Smith scoring 16 of those 26 points, including a drop-goal on the 60-minute mark.
Saturday’s clash against Leinster will be the first club rugby game played at Croke Park since 2009, and Smith could not hide his excitement at playing at such a historic venue.
Going for Croke ☘️
— Northampton Saints 😇 (@SaintsRugby) May 3, 2024
Here are your Saints to face Leinster in the #InvestecChampionsCup semi-finals.https://t.co/Ah10HhskAT pic.twitter.com/Xou3WXvKPS
“I’m really excited for it,” Smith said. “We had a bit of a history lesson on Monday about the history of Croke Park, and it was very eye-opening.
“I sat there with goosebumps, thinking ‘blimey, I'm really lucky to be part of the history that comes with this fixture and the ground we’re playing at’. It’s an unbelievable opportunity for us so I’m trying to keep as calm and relaxed around it all as I can because I know by game time, I’m going to be raring to go.
“It’s really special and it’s going to be hostile. We’re coming up against the best team in Europe for the past four or five years so what better place to go and just have a go.”
Fin Smith
“A lot of people have written us off but we’re confident within the tight group of us that we can go out there and at least put up a fight, but hopefully go one further than that. We’re properly up for it.”
Having initially joined Saints in October 2022, Smith has so far played 40 games for the Club, along with making his England debut in the 2024 Six Nations.
Following last weekend’s clash at Twickenham, Smith will run out in front of an even larger crowd this weekend with almost 83,000 expected at Croke Park – and as his spectacular rise continues, the fly-half admits this is something he has had to learn to deal with.
“It’s something that’s taken a bit of time to start having a positive effect on me,” Smith said. “It was probably something that would make me massively go into my shell if I was sat here two or three years ago.
“The more you do these things, the more you learn to be in the moment and savour them because these are the ones you’re going to look back on in however many years and think ‘that was pretty cool’.
Fin Smith
“I’m excited for the occasion, it’s going to be nothing we’ve ever experienced before in terms of the passion from the Irish crowd and what’s to come, but it’s going to be a really good one.
“I'm going to try to take it all in and enjoy being out there as much as I can.”
