Matt Smith is a rugby union footballer who plays utility back for Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers is an English rugby union club that plays in the Aviva Premiership.Leicester are the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, a record 9 times English champions - 3 more than either Bath or Wasps, the last of which was in 2010...

 and England U-21.

Career

Smith made his Tigers début against the Barbarians

Barbarian F.C.

The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...

 in March 2006 and, by the close of the 2006/07 season, had played on a further three occasions for the first team. Smith has been a regular member of Tigers’ successful Development XV over the past two seasons, where his versatility has seen him excel at centre, full-back or fly-half. He scored his first senior try last season, crossing during the friendly encounter with Marcelo Loffreda

Marcelo Loffreda

Marcelo Loffreda is a rugby player and coach, until recently head coach for the English club power Leicester Tigers. Loffreda won 44 caps with one as captain, playing at centre for the Argentine rugby union side...

’s at Welford Road

Welford Road Stadium

Welford Road is a rugby union stadium in Leicester, England and is the home ground for Leicester Tigers. It is located between Aylestone Road and Welford Road on the edge of the city centre...

 in February.

The son of former Tigers flanker, skipper and coach Ian "Dosser" Smith

Ian "Dosser" Smith

Ian "Dosser" Smith is an English schoolmaster, director of Rugby at Oakham School, and former player , captain in the mid-1980s, and later coach of Leicester Tigers. He made 331 first XV appearances for Leicester, including five John Player Cup Finals , of which three were won, and scored a total...

, Smith joined the Tigers Junior Academy at U-16 level and represented Oakham School

Oakham School

Oakham School is a British co-educational independent school in the historic market town of Oakham in Rutland, accepting around 1,000 pupils, aged from 10 to 18, both male and female, as boarders and day pupils . The Good Schools Guide called the school "a privileged but unpretentious and...

 in their 2003 Daily Mail Cup

Daily Mail Cup

The Daily Mail RBS Cup is the annual English schools' rugby union cup competition. The semi-finals are now held at Broadstreet Rugby Club. The final is held at Twickenham Stadium. Competitions are held at the U18 and U15 age group levels...

 Final win at Twickenham

Twickenham Stadium

Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...

. Smith entered his second year as a member of the first-team squad in 2007/08 and he was loaned out to National Division One team Nottingham

Nottingham R.F.C.

Nottingham Rugby Football Club are a rugby union club based in Nottingham, England. The club's first team currently play in the Championship, the second tier of English Rugby....

.
The 2008/09 season saw Smith make his breakthrough into regular first team action, appearing in all 16 of the games before Christmas 2008.

In January 2009 he received a call up to the England Saxons

England Saxons

England Saxons is the current name of England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England A...

and came off the bench to score a début try in the match against .