Mates ready to make midfield music again
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and it seems Conrad Smith has missed his old mate Ma’a Nonu during the midfield pair’s enforced break-up.
The old firm has been closed for business since Smith broke his hand during the second June test against England, but seems likely to reopen against Argentina on Saturday.
Nonu and Malakai Fekitoa had a run during the third test thrashing of England in Hamilton, and again during a dour 12-12 draw against Australia in Sydney while Smith attended the birth of his first child.
Then in Auckland, Smith and Ryan Crotty teamed up for the Bledisloe Cup bash as Nonu sat out with a bruised shoulder.
Some much needed depth is building and Sonny Bill Williams is sure to push the incumbents hard next year. But for now it remains difficult to imagine a midfield without Nonu and Smith.
The duo have started 52 tests together since their partnership began against Ireland at Westpac Stadium in 2008.
Only Ireland’s Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll, with 54, have formed a test midfield more times, but that record seems likely to be in temporary hands.
It was put to Smith yesterday that he and Nonu did not immediately leap out as similar blokes – that he looked more the type who would listen to British folk- rock band Mumford and Sons, while Nonu might prefer the late US rapper Tupac.
‘‘Well done,’’ Smith said with a broad smile and a nod. ‘‘I don’t know much about Tupac, but it’s funny in the way the relationship has grown between the two of us. Obviously we are pretty tight friends now, but at the start we both admit we started off just fending for ourselves. We were thrown together as a combination, but we were just doing our own thing really.
‘‘Over the years we’ve been encouraged to learn from each other and develop [the relationship] a bit more and I think we’ve done that – probably in the last four or five years since the last World Cup and really benefited from it.’’
In other words, they’ve become closer mates off the field and developed a natural on-field relationship where each knows his role instinctively.
‘‘That experience is the biggest thing. We’ve played a long time together at all different levels, but particularly at test level. A midfield is a combination rather than an individual thing and we just know each other’s play really well. Having done it for a while you know what you are looking for and are able to play off each other.’’
Smith and Nonu appear to be two blokes in a good place this season. The former is a proud new dad, the latter finally has his immediate playing future secured in his hometown with the Hurricanes.
On the rugby field, though, neither is ever content and Smith said they needed to be smarter in coming to terms with Argentina’s unique style of rugby.
The All Blacks had been slow to adjust to the Pumas over the past two years, making tough work of home wins – in 2012, 21-5 in Wellington, and 2013, 28-13 in Hamilton – before more comfortable return wins in South America.
This time around Smith said they had tried to simulate Argentina’s unique inside out defence in training to prepare themselves not to fall for the trick of taking the space left on the outside, only for it to close too quickly for any gain to be realised.