"Through injury concerns from other players and national duty, obviously it was fantastic to be able to say to Jamie 'listen, step up in that role' and he is the type of person who embraces the challenge," said Smith.
"It's going to be his first game back after a long injury lay off. He's excited to just get going and I'm glad that it's on the wing where he can also add a lot of value because I like the fact that there's two scrum-halves on the field.
"That will help us with the way we play."
Smith also stressed the importance of the mentality of his team with so much rugby still to be played this season.
"We know that, when the break started on 19 January, there were still six months to the end of the season," he said.
"It's very important for the team to stay mentally fresh and enthusiastic. That compliments the way we play, so there was a mental element, but we mostly focused on physical development."