International Career
He played for England U18 ‘A’ in 1999/00 and the next season became a member of the England U19 team, progressing to the U21 side during 2001/02, then Smith gained his first cap as a replacement against Italy. He started his first game for England in the trial against France. However, concerns about his defensive positioning saw him fail to make the 2003 World Cup Squad.
With injuries to other centres Mike Tindall and Will Greenwood, Smith was tipped by amongst others former centre Jeremy Guscott to take his place in the 2005 Six Nations side. However, Smith was overlooked in favour of Newcastle centres of Mathew Tait and Jamie Noon. Tait, aged only 18, played poorly in his debut against Wales and was substituted by Olly Barkley who played in the remaining matches. Noon was solid, if unspectacular and retained his place. Some good performances from Smith in club games saw him come onto the bench for the games against Ireland, Italy and Scotland, gaining two more caps against Italy and Scotland.
Smith was then named to the British & Irish Lions squad for the tour of New Zealand ahead of Noon and Barkley. Shortly after this announcement, his father died. He played in the warm-up test against Argentina scoring a try. This game was later granted test status by the IRB. In 2008 there was a great disappointment for Smith because he did not get into the England squad for the mid-year tour to New Zealand.
Read more about this topic: Ollie Smith
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