Saints 'still in play-off hunt' after beating Bath - Smith

Fin Smith joined Northampton after leaving previous club Worcester Warriors

England fly-half Fin Smith admitted Northampton's Premiership title hopes would have been over if he had not landed a last-minute penalty to beat Bath.

Having missed a couple of kicks earlier in the game, Smith took his personal contribution to 15 points as Saints came out on top 35-34 against the team they beat in last season's final at Twickenham.

The reigning champions remain eighth in the table, though, still needing to close an eight-point gap to the top four play-off places.

"It was pretty nerve-wracking. I'd love to say I enjoyed the moment but it was just sheer relief," Smith said of his match-winning penalty.

"To be frank, if we'd lost that game I think that's pretty much our Premiership hopes done.

"We're still in the hunt, and we'll take a lot of confidence from that, Bath are the team to beat this year, they came to our place and we managed to get there in the end. It felt a lot more like last season."

Away from his international commitments, Smith has scored 96 points in 11 games for Northampton this season and showed the full range of his skills against Bath, including a superb kick through for George Hendy to cross for their fourth try.

"The quality of their defence, the quality of some of the jackalers they've got, you don't want to hold on to the ball for too long," he told BBC Sport.

"I'm always looking for that space and encouraging guys around me to call for it and they did that really well and I was able to put the ball in behind and we got some good results from it."

Smith was happy to out-score Bath opposite number Finn Russell on the day as Saints avenged a 38-16 loss at The Rec in the current campaign's opening round, back in September.

"Playing against Finn Russell, in my opinion the best 10 in the world, it's a good chance to test yourself," he said.

"It wasn't the best I've ever played but I felt like I put a little bit of my game on the pitch."

The 22-year-old hopes his performance will lead to more international caps, having won six so far, and he was delighted to have Alex Mitchell alongside him once more following the scrum-half's injury problems earlier in the season.

"He's so good at getting our attack playing fast and to play with him is an absolute dream, to be honest. I'd never tell him that but he makes my life a lot easier," he said.

There are eight rounds of regular season games still to play, but first there is a two-week break for the European Champions Cup, with Northampton - who have won two out of two so far in their group - away to Stade Francais before hosting Munster.

And if there is a tight finish in either of those games, Smith hopes his last-gasp success against Bath will again stand him in good stead.

He added: "It was more 'just don't let the boys down', they'd fought so hard out there and I'd missed a couple and felt guilty and I thought 'I'd best really dial into this and make sure it goes over' and it did."