He gave me a bit of a slap – Fin Smith hails Matt Sherratt’s influence on career

England fly-half Fin Smith will always be grateful for the “bit of a slap” Matt Sherratt gave him and the influence the Wales boss had on kick-starting his career.

Smith and England head to Cardiff on Saturday, where victory over Wales would keep Steve Borthwick’s team in Six Nations title contention ahead of tournament favourites France tackling Scotland.

The Northampton playmaker has rapidly become an influential figure for England, and Wales’ interim head coach Sherratt will know all about the threat he poses.

Sherratt was his first coach at Worcester, and Smith said: “He sat me down for a really honest conversation that I won’t forget when I was midway through my first year as an 18-year-old.

“He was saying Faz (Owen Farrell) and Fordy (George Ford) were playing week in, week out, and if I wanted to get to that level, which he said at the time that he thought I could, then I really needed to push.

“He really looked out for me and gave me a shot in my first year. As a coach it is probably not the easiest thing to do, but I am really grateful to him and I have been speaking to him for a while since he left Worcester.

“It is easy to turn up, follow the schedule like everyone else does – weights, then meetings – and he was just like, ‘if you want to take that step you have got to be doing things slightly differently to everyone else’.

“So he encouraged me to get in and kick on my days off, use my free time to look at videos, be practising my skills, my passing. That was really good.

“It is easy to go in as a young lad, turn up and follow the same path, and I think if you really want to jump out ahead of the crowd you have got to be putting extra work in.

“So he gave me a bit of a slap, told me to crack on and do a bit more, and I am super-grateful he did that.”

While England are in the mix for Six Nations silverware, Wales and Italy find themselves in a a scrap to stave off the wooden spoon.

A point against England could be enough to avoid finishing bottom for a second successive season, and Wales have regrouped strongly under Sherratt.

They are on a run of 16 successive Test defeats – 14 were under Warren Gatland – but Wales pushed Ireland to the limit in Cardiff with Sherratt in charge, before securing two losing bonus points against Scotland.

“I have got a lot to thank him for, and it was no surprise to me whatsoever that he has turned things around so quickly,” Smith added.

“He is an unbelievable people person, and those boys are playing with a lot more confidence. I think that is something he has brought to them.

“He has got an unbelievable attacking brain as well, and you can see by the way they are moving the ball and some of their strike-plays that he has stamped his name all over that stuff.

“He has them all on the same page, which is the main thing. He has got them to fight for each other again. He has clearly put some pride back into the shirt.”