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Hurricanes snap up Wallabies prop
By Peter Thompson
Australia prop Toby Smith will leave Rebels to join Super Rugby champions Hurricanes on a two-year deal.
Smith had four seasons with the Melbourne franchise after a successful spell with Chiefs, where he won two Super Rugby titles.
The 28-year-old, capped six times by the Wallabies, will now embark on a new challenge with the mighty Hurricanes.
"I'll always be grateful for my time in Australia and I have really enjoyed playing for the Melbourne Rebels, but when the opportunity to play for the Hurricanes came up it was very appealing to me." said Smith, whose parents are from New Zealand and brought him up in Hamilton.
"To play for a team with such a proud history and from everything I've heard a great culture, while also being closer to my young son is something I'm very excited about.
"I'm looking forward to moving to Wellington later in the year, meeting everyone, and getting stuck into pre-season training."
Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd said: "Toby has a long and accomplished career that has already included nearly 100 Super Rugby caps, 50 matches for Waikato and a Rugby World Cup campaign with Australia.
"That sort of experience is a valuable asset for any team and we're looking forward to his input from next season."
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Latest Comments
The New Zealand performance in the return fixture in 2016 was filthy. A lot of Irish supporters were pretty shocked by it, viewed it as de facto cheating just to avoid another defeat.
Also shocked by the abuse to Ireland, captain, vice-captain and spectators after the full time whistle in Paris defeat, last match.
Sledging is sledging, but that happens during the game and targetting spectators should be completely out of bounds.
The Irish public used to enjoy these matches, even in defeat. Now they are necessary but unpleasant, because NZ apparently cannot accept or respect successful challengers.
Go to commentsThanks for the analysis Nick, thought provoking as usual. Couple of queries though, in the pic where you've circled Williams bind , I'm pretty sure it shows Stuart's knee on the ground, surely that's a NZ penalty? Also having had the chance to watch it again the All Black scrum seeems to improve after halftime, but before either England or the All Blacks replace their props. Not sure if that was the result of Tuipolutu coming on or some halftime tips. Either way this is only Williams second international season, so he'll be better for the experience.
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