Smith's explosive rise adds new dimension to Leicester ambition

Powergen Cup Centre called into England training squad has pace and perception to undermine Gloucester in semi-final

There is clearly nothing wrong with Ollie Smith's sporting education. The precociously talented Leicester centre attended the same Alma Mater as his director of rugby, Dean Richards, namely John Cleveland College, in Hinckley.

He has subsequently progressed through Tigers' ranks making his first-team debut against London Irish three seasons ago when a mere cub of 18 years 2 days, and now, all of 20 years old, Smith has surged into the senior England squad.

No one could be more surprised than the player himself. When his selection in England's 25-man training squad was announced to him earlier this week he seemed genuinely taken aback. There was not a jot of false modesty when he said: "It has come out of the blue. It is totally unexpected.

"This season my expectations were, if I did well, that I would get a good run in the A team." Clive Woodward attributed the promotion of a handful of England A players to their excellent performance, collective and individual, in the thrilling victory over France A at Northampton's Franklin's Gardens last month.

Smith saw things differently. "I didn't think I had a very good game in that match," he confessed. "I had a knock on the head early on and that took it out of me. I eventually came off before the end and I thought I would not get picked for the A team again after that."

But he has not got where he is with the help of the old school tie. He has undeniable talent and Woodward is clearly well aware of that. Smith has genuine pace, explosive early on and overdrive when he is stretching for the line; he is alert to openings, aware of opposition weakness, tackles mightily and, in short, does the lot. He is happiest at outside centre, but inside is fine if that is what the bosses want.

Never mind how well, or poorly (depending on your perspective) he fared in the England A team, today there are more important things afoot in Northampton, and Leicester will be hoping that the 6ft 1in, 15st Smith will have a good game in everyone's eyes at Franklin's Gardens when Tigers tackle Gloucester in the Powergen Cup semi-final.

Smith anticipates a hard match despite the absence of a fistful of seasoned Cherry and White contenders. "Whoever comes in will do well," he said. "Gloucester are a good side. In our opinion they occupy what we feel should be our place in the Premiership table – top."

In fact Leicester lie in third place, 16 points adrift of the West Country team, and Smith admitted: "It is a shock to the system. We hate reading in the press and hearing on radio that Leicester are not so good at the moment. It is annoying.

"But we struggled at the start of the season, and only now are we beginning to discover a bit of form." So is Smith. It is only over the last year and a half or so that he reckons he finally managed to establish himself as a regular in the Tigers' first XV.

"I've been lucky," he acknowledged. "In the last 18 months it seems that whenever I have been fit I have been selected, so maybe I am being regarded now as first choice outside centre.

"But there is ferocious competition for places here. We are blessed with some great talent here. I have to train well to get into the side, and play well to stay in it." Given that he has been on the scene for a relatively short time it is remarkable that he has managed to become established as a senior member of the Tigers squad so rapidly.

"It is weird," he said, "but I am no longer classed as a youngster. Even Tom Tierney, who has been capped by Ireland, is regarded as a newcomer. I suppose it is because although I am still young I am already in my third season so I am more in tune with the way the team works."

He credits his phenomenally quick rise to some seriously good coaches. "I owe a lot to Andy Key and John Wells, and Brian Ashton has been working with me lately in the Academy, giving me a few pointers on what to look out for in defence, the right lines to take in attack and getting into good support positions and so on."

Latterly he has placed himself in the hands of a couple of outstanding former Wallaby centres, first there was Pat Howard, and now Rod Kafer, and both Australians have really made an impact on the raw youngster. "I came here straight out of school and Pat was a massive influence from the start," recalled Smith.

"Within a few months I found myself playing alongside him in my first game against London Irish and I benefited hugely from Pat being there. He helped me in attack and defence and also showed how to read a game. Now Rod has taken over and has moved me on a stage further."

What the pair of them have achieved is to make the subsequent step up to representative level not quite so daunting; indeed, Smith's opinion of his A level test was that it was not so huge a leap.

"I had expected it to be a lot bigger step from club to A team than it actually was, but we have been playing to a high standard at Leicester, for example in the European Cup, and so maybe I was better prepared than if I had played elsewhere."

Smith is not quite so confident about the promotion to the senior squad, though. "I do expect that to be a lot bigger, even the training will be a step up for me. All I can do is to try not to make any mistakes, and if I get picked..." a pause, "then all I can do is my best."

He may well be right, and may find that he is not picked for the A team again, but that could well be because he has the qualities and ability to establish himself at the very top.