A 21-18 victory away to Worcester Warriors made it two out of two for Tigers in the pool stages of the LV= Cup.
But Tigers had to do it the hard way, coming back from 10-0 down in the first half before securing a second successive win.
“It was brilliant to be back out on the pitch,” said Smith who suffered a broken thumb in pre-season training and then took another knock in a brief appearance from the bench in his first game back, against Harlequins in the Aviva Premiership a fortnight ago.
“I really enjoyed it, though the lungs started to go a bit. It was my first 80 minutes I think for about six months, which is the longest I’ve ever gone in my career without a full game.
“So it was just good to get back out there in the team, get my head down and get into the game. There was a bit of rustiness in terms of mental sharpness but that will happen in a first game back. You know all the calls because you’ve trained with them but you can train as much as you want, it is different in a game when there are people trying to smash you.”
Smith was making the 139th appearance of his career since his Tigers debut in 2006 and was impressed by the attitude of a young Tigers team at Sixways.
“It’s always tough at Worcester, even with a full-strength side we have struggled at times here, so it is a massive win for this team and will give not just the young lads but all the guys confidence,” he said.
“At 10-0 down we felt a little bit unlucky to be honest, it seemed every bounce of the ball had gone their way at that stage. But there are experienced guys there, like Boris, Scott Hamilton, Jordan Crane who’ll say we’ve been in this situation before and it is all about how you react to it.
“It can go one way or the other and thankfully we were able to come back and win. For the young boys coming through that, being 10-0 down away from home and coming back to win I great. It is what Leicester pride themselves on over the years and all the players will learn from that.”
