Rebooted Smith still better by half
OPINION: The true relevance of last November’s All Blacks tour is gradually beginning to reveal itself.
First, the All Blacks management and senior playing group made a rare misstep. They allowed Aaron Smith a seat on the plane when he should have been left at home to clear his head.
The Highlanders halfback said on Monday he should have stayed at home but he is being too hard on himself. The decision should never been his to make.
Second, British and Irish Lions management will be on shaky ground if they take too much succour from Ireland’s victory against the All Blacks and close tests in Dublin and Paris.
New Zealand will be a different side come June. Smith was a handbrake in November. Now he is finding the accelerator again. His return to form - and it is building - can take the All Blacks to a different level than November’s efforts.
On Saturday against the Brumbies Smith started to do his thing again.
But don’t look at the stats, for much of what he does can’t be quantified by numbers. How can the data merchants put a value on deception, guile and intuition?
Consider the Highlanders’ first try to wing Sio Tomkinson.
From an attacking scrum Smith sped towards the goalposts. In doing so he made four Brumbies defenders make a decision. Should they get narrow to defend the run and a possible short ball to Malakai Fekitoa or should they hold their width?
By the time they made their mind up the trap had been set. Smith, running in his trademark style with his arms coiled like a spring, released a wider ball to No 12 Richard Buckman who threw a similar pass to the unmarked Tomkinson.
That Smith pass, from left to right, is one of rugby’s sweetest sights. It is so precise I am genuinely curious to know if the Highlander is left-handed.
Certainly he kicks off his right boot so that raises the question: did the young Smith practise so assiduously off his non-natural side that is now even stronger than his natural one?
Whatever, what a joy it must be to play on the right flank with Smith as your No 9. No wonder Waisake Naholo’s career went north the day he moved south.
Smith was not perfect on Saturday.
Referee Marius van der Westhuizen’s laissez-faire approach to the Brumbies ruck tactics mean that his ball was sometimes messy and Smith’s yells to the officials for better protection would have been better aimed at his own pack.
Yet there was enough there to suggest a corner had been turned.
I also find no coincidence between that performance and his candour at a press conference on Monday.
The message is: what’s done is done, I’m good now, I know who my friends are and when do those Lions arrive.
Hurricanes fans will no doubt be restless at this stage.
Didn’t their man TJ Perenara usurp Smith last year and have possession of the black jersey?
Only if you think the All Blacks’ selectors believe that he is fundamentally a better player than Smith and better suited to the game the All Blacks want to play, which I don’t.
They have been waiting for signs that Smith is back. And he is starting to send them.