Northampton Saints fly-half Fin Smith admits he overcame some initial embarrassment to enjoy and relish the key role he played in Amazon Prime’s new two-part rugby documentary.
‘Mud, Sweat and Tears: Premiership Rugby’ is available to view from today (Thursday 12 October), and follows last season’s Premiership play-off semi-finalists Northampton Saints, Leicester Tigers, Sale Sharks and Saracens.
Saints opened their doors to camera crews from entertainment company Fulwell 73 – who focused particularly on the 21-year-old fly-half and his rollercoaster journey during the 2022/23 campaign, as well as on Club captain Lewis Ludlam.
📺 The brilliant Mud, Sweat and Tears: Premiership Rugby is available to stream on @PrimeVideo now!
— Northampton Saints 😇 (@SaintsRugby) October 12, 2023
Saints skipper, @LewisLudlam, is one of the undoubted stars as @premrugby opened its doors for an exclusive two-part documentary surrounding last season's playoffs. pic.twitter.com/20cjzExQAf
Smith arrived at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens in October 2022 following the sad demise of his former employers Worcester Warriors.
“A little part of me felt, why do they want to film me?” Smith said. “There’s so many amazing players in the league, I was a little bit almost embarrassed to be the one they were following, I felt I probably don't deserve this.
“Once it started making sense and they spoke about the Worcester and being young and playing in an important position, I probably felt slightly less embarrassed. I thought people might be interested in what I’ve been through and what I am doing at the minute.”
Cameras followed Smith’s preparations at the Gardens but also back to his former Academy house, which was shared with teammates Kayde Sylvester and Ed Prowse – all three of whom attended the premiere at Battersea Power Station in midweek.
“I actually got to a point where I really enjoyed it,” added Smith. “Hopefully I’ve shown a little bit of what it’s like behind the scenes away from the generic, cliche rugby player answers that the media get a lot of the time. It was pretty cool to see how it all worked.
“You’ve got three or four guys stood behind a camera in the corner of a room and you’re trying to pretend they’re not there and act normal. It was a good laugh and a cool experience.
“Hopefully Saints supporters will agree, the Club comes off really well. You can see how important the town and the fans are for the Club. Lewis Ludlam particularly comes across so impressively in terms of how he captains the side and what an impressive character he is.”
Fin Smith
Hopes are high that the two-part documentary will be a success and lead to a longer-form series that have become common place in other sports such as football, golf and Formula 1.
Smith added: “In terms of growing a bigger fan base, it will be great if the game could focus less on things like refereeing decisions. I am just trying to put my personality out there.
“If people are interested in young players coming up and through, the more I can interact, the better.
“If people enjoy it then it seems like it's going to be a good thing and kick on, which can only be a good thing for the game, the fans and hopefully stadiums getting full.”
For more information on how to watch ‘Mud, Sweat and Tears: Premiership Rugby’, visit amazon.co.uk/amazonprime.
Next Home Match
