Fin Smith has praised interim Wales boss Matt Sherratt for giving him a ‘slap’ which kickstarted his career.
The England star was a young player at Worcester Warriors when Sherratt was on the coaching staff.
“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,” explained the fly-half.
“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 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.”
