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Why Aaron Smith has been rewarded with All Blacks captaincy
By Ben Smith
In front of his home crowd in Dunedin, halfback Aaron Smith will captain the All Blacks for the first time in his 98th Test at Forsyth Barr Stadium when the All Blacks take on Fiji on Saturday night.
A co-captain for the Highlanders, Smith's first All Black test as captain comes as Sam Whitelock moves to the bench with the return of Brodie Retallick and Patrick Tuipulotu in the starting side.
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster heralded Smith as a 'special player' who has earnt the captaincy badge as part of their leadership group.
“Aaron is a special player with real mana and a natural leader and his preparation is second to none. I’m sure he, his wife Teagan and his wider whanau will be proud of what he has achieved,"
When Foster told Smith of his achievement, the 32-year-old was rather subdued with the news, but the head coach was sure that his halfback would lead very well having done it at the Highlanders.
"Probably a little bit subdued in some ways, from the external side, internally, very proud," Foster said.
"He's earned it. He is a big part of our whole leadership group, he's grown to be an outstanding 'preparer' for a test match. So I think there is a little bit of a reward there, but it is something we are very confident in.
"We've watched his leadership through the Highlanders and thought he did a great job there as well, so it gives us a lot of confidence to give him that title.
"We gave him the captaincy because he's earned it and because we've looked at this period and how we manage the resources, so it was always an intention of ours.
"I guess for him, being here in Dunedin, if it needs to be any more special, it probably will be."
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Latest Comments
That is a matter of players style of play. Will Jordan's strength is his running . He has been absolutely deadly for the the Crusaders in that position. Especially in years 2021-23. Foster subsequently then Razor put him on the wing. Scored heaps of tries, but as he showed in one test against Australia this year , he scored a try running from the back, that was amazing. That was after Robertson finally put him at 15 because Beauden was injured. Thankfully there Will remained. Speaking of Beauden and kicking. He kicks too much, waywardly as well. Handing the ball back to the opposition. He is an impact player at best.
Go to commentsYet Ethan Blackadder was one of our best against the World Champion Springbok. When he came back to the Crusaders later in the season , he made a huge difference, ( a long with others like Codie Taylor), we nearly made the Play Off's. Ethan has plenty of rugby left in him. His family , Dad Todd Blackadder must be very [proud of him. Todd Blackadder was a 3 time champion captain of the Crusaders, '98, '99 and 2000.An icon in this area. Also twice captain of Canterbury , '97 and 2001 when we won the NPC and Ranfurly Shield winning captain in 2000.
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