Fin Smith: Losing England 10 shirt hurts

Smith was disappointed with the Lions’ performance on their tour of Australia.

He started the pre-tour match against Argentina in Dublin, but failed to put pressure on first choice 10 Finn Russell, with Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell preferred on the bench during the Test series.

But he enjoyed being part of an establishment whose maternal grandfather, Tom Elliot, toured South Africa in 1955, and often mingling with the players he played against.

Twelve Leinster players were part of the initial 38-man Lions squad.

Northampton, who beat Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-final five days before the squad was announced, secured a quadruple from Smith, Tommy Freeman, Henry Pollock and Alex Mitchell.

“As a life experience, it was amazing in terms of some of the memories I made and the people I met,” Smith added.

“It was a great group of people

“I think [Leinster second row and fellow Lion] James Ryan would be very different for me. It’s a little bad to play against him but he’s a [Northampton and England second row] Alex Coles’ prototype; They are both very smart, very dry sense of humor, very funny. I got along very well with him.

“We didn’t mention [Northampton’s win over Leinster] A lot, but our coach Richard Wigglesworth kept bringing it up. He thought this was very funny. “I didn’t mind being reminded.”