He is "a true Leicester Tiger" according to the man who knows best of all, and there can be no more fitting compliment for Matt Smith as the newest member of the 200 Club.
Smith made his debut back in 2006 and has played in four Premiership Finals as an integral part of the senior squad at Welford Road. He shared in a testimonial year with Tom Croft and is in the history books as half of the first father-and-son partnership to each make 100 first-team starts.
At a supporters’ evening earlier this season, Ian ‘Dosser’ Smith referred to his son as a “true Leicester Tiger” to the total agreement of everyone in the room. A proud parent is one thing, but from one who played more than 330 times for the same club and coached there too carries even more weight.
The similarities are not just in their looks. Dosser and Matt are hewn from similar stone with individual ability matched only by an unshakeable commitment to the cause.
Matt has made his dad proud ever since that debut game against the Barbarians 11 years ago and continues to epitomise what it means to wear the shirt.
To reach 200 games for Tigers is a wonderful achievement and in recent years he has come to symbolise what it means to be a “good clubman” in the footsteps of dad Dosser or, in more recent years, a guy like Louis Deacon. They are men who are red, white and green to the very core.
Matt O’Connor and Richard Cockerill are two of the toughest taskmasters you could meet in rugby but both put their faith in Smith and he has repaid them many times over. With a young coaching team now in place, he’s just the kind of player the management can turn to whenever required, knowing his standards never slip.
His commitment and loyalty are undoubted and the strength of his defence is a prominent feature of the second half of his Tigers career. But it would be a dis-service to forget the strength in attack, the smooth change of pace and the tries – the ones against Saints when we needed them most and one in a Premiership Final win are the first that come to mind – and a humility which still does the old man proud too.
Well done Matt. You’ve done us proud son.
.
Smith made his debut back in 2006 and has played in four Premiership Finals as an integral part of the senior squad at Welford Road. He shared in a testimonial year with Tom Croft and is in the history books as half of the first father-and-son partnership to each make 100 first-team starts.
At a supporters’ evening earlier this season, Ian ‘Dosser’ Smith referred to his son as a “true Leicester Tiger” to the total agreement of everyone in the room. A proud parent is one thing, but from one who played more than 330 times for the same club and coached there too carries even more weight.
The similarities are not just in their looks. Dosser and Matt are hewn from similar stone with individual ability matched only by an unshakeable commitment to the cause.
Matt has made his dad proud ever since that debut game against the Barbarians 11 years ago and continues to epitomise what it means to wear the shirt.
To reach 200 games for Tigers is a wonderful achievement and in recent years he has come to symbolise what it means to be a “good clubman” in the footsteps of dad Dosser or, in more recent years, a guy like Louis Deacon. They are men who are red, white and green to the very core.
Matt O’Connor and Richard Cockerill are two of the toughest taskmasters you could meet in rugby but both put their faith in Smith and he has repaid them many times over. With a young coaching team now in place, he’s just the kind of player the management can turn to whenever required, knowing his standards never slip.
His commitment and loyalty are undoubted and the strength of his defence is a prominent feature of the second half of his Tigers career. But it would be a dis-service to forget the strength in attack, the smooth change of pace and the tries – the ones against Saints when we needed them most and one in a Premiership Final win are the first that come to mind – and a humility which still does the old man proud too.
Well done Matt. You’ve done us proud son.
.
