Good things come in small packages
How Aaron Smith broke the halfback mold
The top two inches is easy around getting mentally ready for things. But physically it’s just hard work. There is no substitute. You earn everything you get.
Aaron Smith
Cricket savoured Sachin Tendulkar, the little master. League lauded Stacey Jones, the little general. Rugby celebrates its version, the mini maestro, at Eden Park tonight as Aaron “Nugget” Smith leads the All Blacks test centurions into double digits.
Where Tendulkar’s favoured drives arguably stand out from his assorted banquet of shots — his legion of Indian fans would all suggest different, perfected strokes — and Jones’ vintage chip and chase is etched in memory, for Smith, it will always be his unrivalled bullet pass.
With a skip ball here and a short ball there, Smith has long pulled the strings like a musical genius.
In this regard, he is a master craftsman without peer.
Brendon McCullum recalled this week how before the 2019 Black Clash Twenty20 cricket match, the teams formed a mock rugby backline. McCullum, a first five-eighth good enough to displace the great Dan Carter from the South Island Schools rugby team in 1999, stood at first receiver ready to set the backline alight.
As a former wicketkeeper turned superb fielder, McCullum’s catching skills were never questioned — yet Smith’s first pass rocketed through his hands. He dropped it cold, looked sheepishly at Smith who winked as if to suggest “push a little wider, mate”.
Such an anecdote offers but a small insight for the uninitiated into just how influential Smith’s pass has, and continues to be, for the Highlanders and All Blacks. For the past decade, both teams have shaped their games around his now iconic presence.
“He’s a guy that has total devotion to his core skills — the quality of his pass, kick — and he’s become a real leader in this group,” All Blacks coach Ian Foster said yesterday ahead of the opening Bledisloe Cup test.
“I know how much it means to him. It will be a special occasion for him and his family but the one thing on his mind is playing well and that’s probably why he has played 100 tests. He keeps it nice and simple close to kickoff time.”
In the business of beating increasingly encroaching defensive lines, time and space are precious commodities. And there is no one in the global game that gives their playmakers more of these than Smith.
Halfbacks will forever be limited in their ability to influence by the quality of their ball. Give Smith the desired platform, though, and with a flick of his wrists, a spiral pass begins its journey to leaving the opposition stretched.
Richie McCaw, Kieran Read, Keven Mealamu, Sam Whitelock, Carter, Tony Woodcock, Owen Franks, Ma’a Nonu and Mils Muliana form the vaunted All Blacks centurion contingent. Joining that illustrious club has been no easy ride for Smith.
As a Feilding hairdresser, the 1.7m Smith was told he would be too small to crack the professional ranks.
At a time when big halfbacks were in vogue, expected to be fourth loose forwards as much as they were link players, Smith was never going to fit that brief.
The Hurricanes, his local Super Rugby team, overlooked him. He spent time in the Blues wider training squad, too, before Jamie Joseph handed Smith his big break at the Highlanders.
One year after his Super Rugby debut, Smith broke into the All Blacks against Ireland, with coach Steve Hansen ushering in a new era.
In search of width, pace and speed, Hansen placed Smith at the heart of those plans. He has had a mortgage on the nine jersey since — a career highlight reel that includes the World Cup and Super Rugby titles in the same 2015 season.
Off the field, Smith made some major mistakes along the way in the form of the toilet tryst incident. But as Ardie Savea noted this week, it’s the mark of anyone who matures and learns from such errors.
“I see a man who has been through a lot in his journey,” Savea said. “I’ve seen discipline, consistency in preparation. A great man in terms of what a professional rugby player should be. To be great, you’ve got to go through some stuff, so to see Nug come out of that and do what he has is inspirational.”
As Richie Mo’unga explained, Smith now sets the example for others to follow.
“For anyone who know him, it’s not surprising he’s at this stage of his career because the man he is, how disciplined he is, he just has one gear and it’s all go every day of the week,” Mo’unga said. “He strives to be great and is a great role model for us; the husband he is, the father he is to Luka. It’s awesome for us to see.”
Smith’s point of difference will always be his pass defined by its length, speed, accuracy. It didn’t happen by chance. As a teenager, his father pushed him through thousands of hours passing at wheelie bins with yellow stickers attached. During this everyday ritual, Smith learned when he hit the target, the ball came back. When he didn’t, he had to fetch it.
A fast pass is nothing without speed to the ruck, though. Smith eventually made major shifts in his fitness — cutting back fast food and alcohol — that enabled him to combine the two with devastating effect.
Now 32-years-old and in better condition than ever, Smith’s form is a result of investing in his body and a training regime that often starts with stretching at 5am.
In his only media appearance this week, at the All Blacks jersey launch, Smith detailed how he has followed American superstars LeBron James, 36, Russell Wilson, 32, and Tom Brady, 44, to spend up large outside the team environment on preserving his greatest asset.
“The top two inches is easy around getting mentally ready for things,” Smith said. “But physically, it’s just hard work. There is no substitute. You earn everything you get.
“I watch a lot of sports overseas around athletes I like that motivate me. The longevity is more around consistency, and little things done well and often. It’s small sacrifices, but there are big rewards if you are able to stay committed to something.
“I can’t just go run the roads like I used to. My knees and joints don’t like it. But there are watt bikes and things now to help if you’re willing. I do a lot of stuff before I even get to training in the mornings. I’ve got a very good routine around where I know I need to get my body to, and spend a lot of time with nutritionists around the fuel I put in.
“I spend a lot of money on recovery. I get a couple of rubs a week, and I’m very stringent with recovery pumps, ice baths and sauna.
“I have all that at home. I’m willing to pay for my body and I’m willing to make sure that it gives me as much as it can.”
Smith’s longevity is testament to his indelible mark on the All Blacks but his legacy can already be seen in the halfback template that follows him.
Where once big halfbacks were deemed best, Smith defines the notion that good, or in his case great, things come in small packages.