8:50am Tuesday 9th February 2010
By Alan Feldberg
LEE Smith watched England beat Wales on Saturday and said being out there on such a big occasion is his goal.
The Wasps man achieved almost everything there is to achieve in rugby league, but Sunday’s victory over Newcastle was his first union start since making the switch two months ago.
He said: “Playing for England in front of 80,000 fans at Twickenham has got to be the goal of anyone who is a professional rugby player.
“But I’ve got to get into this Wasps team first. The differences [between codes] are massive and I still need to learn the game.
“It’s not going to come overnight, but it’s just a matter of getting more game-time under my belt.”
Smith started on the wing against Newcastle then moved to centre for the closing stages.
He came off the bench to make his Wasps debut the previous weekend as a full back so Sunday’s experience completed the set.
He said: “I prefer full back because you’ve got a lot of space and can run at a broken line.
“The wing is alright as long as we’re going forward and getting lots of ball in hand and playing in the middle is good too, doing a bit of defending – I don’t mind that at all.
“I’m easy, I’ll play wherever Tony [Hanks] and Shaun [Edwards] want me to.
“We’ll sit down and see what’s best for the team. I can play a number of positions but hopefully I’ll get one and then maintain it and keep my place in the squad.”
Going forward, Smith was a threat in the first half, although positionally he was caught out once or twice in the second, when Newcastle tried to force the pace.
He said: “There were a couple of times when I chased kicks and then they kicked it back over my head and I was thinking ‘god, I hope someone’s covering me’.
“And I’ve got to work on standing in the right place, good fly halves will probably catch me out but it’s for me now to go back and analyse and hopefully learn from it.
“Hopefully I can pick it up for the business end of the season.”
Sunday’s victory was academic after Cardiff had picked up five points at Scarlets the previous day, and Wasps are now challenging on just two fronts.
Smith said: “We’re out of this competition now, which is a shame, but we’ve got three massive league games now and we’ve got to push on and get into those play-offs.”
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