Youth He played school rugby for HTS Middelburg in
Mpumalanga, which led to his inclusion in the U18 squads that played at the
Craven Week competitions in 2010 and 2011. After school, he moved to
Johannesburg, where he joined the . He started in nine matches for the side during the
2012 Under-19 Provincial Championship, scoring four tries. He was selected in the
South Africa U20 side that played at the
2013 IRB Junior World Championship in France. His only appearance in the pool stages came when he came played off the bench in the 97–0 victory over the
United States. He didn't play in their matches against
England and
France, but he did return to the bench for their semi-final clash with
Wales. He came on in the first half and scored one of South Africa's two tries in the match, but it wasn't enough to prevent them losing the match 18–17 as Wales progressed to the final. Smith was again named in their final match of the tournament, the third place play-off against
New Zealand, and once again scored a try for the Baby Boks to help the team to a 41–34 victory, clinching third place in the competition. He returned to domestic action later in 2013, making ten appearances for the side in the
2013 Under-21 Provincial Championship, scoring four tries in the process. He also played for the same team in the
2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship.
Sevens At the end of 2013, Smith joined the
South Africa Sevens side. He made his debut on the international
IRB Sevens World Series circuit at the
2013 South Africa Sevens event, helping his side to victory in their home tournament for just the second time ever, beating
New Zealand in the Cup final. He appeared in six legs of the
2013–14 IRB Sevens World Series, following up the event in South Africa with appearances in the
United States,
Hong Kong,
Japan,
Scotland and
London legs of the tournament. He was selected in the squad that played at the
2014 Commonwealth Games and helped his side to a 17–12 victory over a
New Zealand team that won the previous four consecutive tournaments.
Golden Lions He was included in the first team squad for the
2014 Currie Cup Premier Division and was named on the bench for their Round Two match against the in
Johannesburg.
2016 Summer Olympics Smith was included in a 12-man squad for the
2016 Summer Olympics in
Rio de Janeiro. He was named in the starting line-up for their first match in Group B of the competition against
Spain, with South Africa winning the match 24–0.
Shizuoka Blue Revs In July 2018, Smith joined Japanese side
Shizuoka Blue Revs for the
2018–19 Top League season.
South Africa Smith was named in the South Africa squad for the
2019 Rugby World Cup. Smith played two matches, against
Namibia and
Canada in the pool stage, starting both at openside flanker. South Africa went on to win the tournament, defeating
England in the final. In 2021, Smith was part of the South Africa squad for the tests against the
British and Irish Lions and
Georgia. In the game against Georgia, he scored his first test try, playing as 8th man. He went on to feature for the rest of 2021, including the
2021 Rugby Championship and
2021 Autumn Nations Series, predominantly at the blindside flank and also number 8. ==International statistics==