Smith’s ‘huge mistake’ messed with his game

Aaron Smith’s admission that he should have taken a break from the game last year after an incident with a woman at Christchurch airport confirms what we all really knew — that his sharp drop in form was directly related to what was described as a scandal.

One of his best performances for the All Blacks last year was against the Springboks in Christchurch in September, the evening before he met a woman who wasn’t his partner in a disabled toilet, something he yesterday called a “huge mistake”.

The fallout, once the incident was revealed during the build-up to the return test against the Boks in Durban, was dramatic. Sent home to Dunedin, Smith took a long time to recover. While he was left out of the All Blacks’ third Bledisloe Cup test against Australia at Eden Park, he started the next test against Ireland in Chicago and didn’t play anywhere near well enough.

His replacement in that defeat, TJ Perenara, provided a huge impact but Smith reclaimed the No 9 jersey for the return test against Ireland in Dublin, vacating it again for the final match against France in Paris.

Smith is at his best when acting on instinct, clearing the ball quickly and using his pace and agility to go from breakdown to breakdown and increase the All Blacks’ tempo. Last year, clearly troubled, he couldn’t manage that.

Smith’s media appearance yesterday came ahead of his 100th match for the Highlanders on Friday — against the Force in Dunedin — a milestone the 28-year-old has every right to be proud of. His honesty and openness in revisiting his poor decision last year reflect well on him.

“It was a huge mistake by me, obviously,” Smith said. “Just the effects it had on me mentally — it really affected me and my performance. The way it hurt my family and my partner and myself, obviously, it was just a really tough time.

“I probably should have put rugby on the backburner then and focused on myself and my family.”

He went on: “I’m just really excited about this year and I think it’s finally coming out in my game.”