By Simon Austin BBC Sport Online

Have you heard about the foreign coach who came to this country and turned a shambolic, unmotivated side into one capable of beating the best?

The work of England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is well-known by everyone.

But there is a Kiwi coach at Northampton Saints who has worked miracles in the modest and understated manner of Eriksson.

The Saints were second-bottom of the Zurich Premiership when Wayne Smith arrived in December.

Now they have an outside chance of qualifying for next season's Heineken Cup and take on London Irish in the Powergen Cup final on Saturday.

Smith, who resigned as coach of the All Blacks last Autumn, plays down the importance of his role in the Northampton renaissance.

Smith was the All Blacks coach until last autumn

"It was always going to happen," he told BBC Sport Online. "There are good players here with a lot of hunger.

"They had some difficulties early on. They lost a lot of players from last year and there were autumn internationals when we lost a lot of key players and the club lost games in those periods."

But the players speak glowingly of Smith and the 42-year-old coach admits there were things he had to change when he arrived at Franklin's Gardens.

"There was a bit of an 'us and them' thing among the players," he said.

"I don't like looking at players in terms of how many games they've played for the club or whether they've played internationals or not.

"In this country, from what I hear from football clubs, the apprentices clean up after the older players.

"Do you expect them to do that for you out on the paddock? You don't, so you shouldn't expect it anywhere else."

Fast work

But even Smith has been surprised by the speed of the turnaround at the club.

"This has been a bit like a dream," he admitted. "It's come about pretty quickly.

"You just set about doing well every week and we've got to the stage now where we've put together some good performances and are reaping the reward."

Smith, who won 17 caps for the All Blacks, has adapted quickly to life in Northampton.

"I love it here," he said. "It's exceeded my expectations.

"The way I've been accepted and the way my family's been accepted has been fantastic."

The former Canterbury Crusaders coach has a lot of respect for Northampton's opponents on Saturday.

The Saints beat Newcastle in the semi-final

"It's no coincidence that London Irish are in the final and second in the Premiership," he said.

"They're a good, well-rehearsed team and and have been with (coach) Brendan Venter for a while.

"He's created a good spirit and a simple gameplan that everyone understands and buys into.

"They're ahead of us in that respect. Put that together with their passion and aggression and they're going to be a tough customer."

Northampton's semi-final win over Newcastle was described by Falcons coach Rob Andrew as the best ever by a Premiership side.

But Smith said his side will need to play even better to win on Saturday.

"Our work ethic's really good here," he said. "But I've had a bit of an issue with the skill level.

"We make too many errors and we continue to do that, but it's getting better.

"We played well against Newcastle for 40 minutes, but we're going to have to play that well for longer this time."

Judging by the work Smith has done at Northampton so far, that would not surprise anyone.