Smith welcomes club mate to national squad
THE man from Green Island may soon be joined by another from the Miller Park club.
Ben Smith, who has actually played more tests for the All Blacks than games for his Green Island club, has been joined in the All Black camp by Highlanders lock and Green Island forward Jackson Hemopo.
Hemopo comes into the squad because of injuries to other players, making for a swift rise for the forward who this time last year had played only a handful of Super Rugby games and was well down the national pecking order.
But a run of games and some hardhitting displays have propelled the forward into the national squad.
Smith was thrilled for his teammate and said he deserved the callup.
‘‘It is awesome to see Jacko [Hemopo] in this environment. I have seen all the hard work he has put in to get to this environment. If he gets his chance, I know he will be pretty pumped. I know he is pretty diligent how he goes about his work.
‘‘He is a pretty quiet sort of guy who works hard behind the scenes.
‘‘A big thing with Jacko is his physicality and that he can match it with anyone as far as that goes. That has given him the confidence in his game to go out and be dominant.’’
Smith said being selected for the All Blacks was great but it was only the beginning.
‘‘A lot of times when you make the squad you get a lot of pats on the back. But probably looking back it is just the start — you get the opportunity, that is all it gives you.
‘‘You have got to be careful . . . you do not want everyone talking to him or else it becomes cluttered. It just needs to be simple. You do not want to give him too much information. Just get him to get out and do what he has to do.’’
Smith said the entire squad sat through a debriefing yesterday on last Saturday night’s performance in which the All Blacks struggled to a 2613 win over a shorthanded French side.
‘‘Probably the main things that came out of that were that we got beaten by a better attitude and they were a bit hungrier. At the same time, we managed to still get a win and we are excited about the week ahead.’’
Smith said the side needed to be more in the moment and get the process right, not just focus on the scoreboard.
He said the side was pleased to be back in Dunedin and looking forward to the game on Saturday.
‘‘We got a good welcome last night [Sunday] and the good thing about Dunedin is it is test week and the city gets in behind it. And you know you are playing in a stadium that has a roof, and that is exciting come Saturday.’’