Smith, who won the first of his five senior caps against Italy in 2003, starts at outside centre in a backline that also features Tigers’ Tom Varndell and other full internationals Shane Geraghty and Nick Abendanon.
“There’s a lot of good players in the squad and it’ll be good fun to play with guys that you normally only get to play against,” says Smith. “There’s a good mix of youth and experience and I think everyone’s really keen to impress. Everyone knows that the best way to do that is to perform well as a team, so hopefully, we’ll be able to do that. Training’s gone well and you get the feeling that everyone’s really looking forward to getting out there.
“It’ll be great to pull on an England shirt again - any time you get the chance to represent your country is obviously special but to do so in front of a home crowd makes it an even bigger occasion. Welford Road is a brilliant place to play rugby as the crowd are so passionate. They really know their rugby and I’m sure they’ll make it pretty memorable for the players.”
Having made 15 appearances for Tigers so far in 2007/08 Smith has been a regular name in the starting line up under both Richard Cockerill and Marcelo Loffreda but will now switch his attentions to the Saxons as he looks to press his claims for further international inclusion.
“I’m really enjoying my rugby at the moment and I think that’s been reflected in the way I’m playing. It was really disappointing to get knocked out of Europe the way we did but we’re still in contention for the Guinness Premiership and EDF Energy Cup so we’ve got a lot still to play for. Now I’m concentrating on performing well for the Saxons because we know that Friday’s game will be a really tough one.
“Ireland A have got some top quality players in their side and they’ve got a lot of experience as well. It’ll be interesting playing against Johne Murphy – he’s been in great form for us this season and he’ll be determined to continue that for Ireland. I know they’ll be looking to turn us over on our own patch so we’ll have to perform really well to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Tickets for Friday’s game are available from the Tigers ticket office at Welford Road, via telephone on 08701 28 34 30 or online at the tickets section of this website.
