Six60 honours departing All Black Aaron Smith with guitar

Six60 gifts departing All Black Aaron Smith a guitar in a touching tribute after his final home test match in Ōtepoti. Photo / Instagram@allblacks

In a heartfelt gesture, Ōtepoti band Six60 presented departing All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith with a guitar as a token of appreciation for his final test match in Dunedin.

The band, known for strong formative ties to the city, delivered the gift in a touching moment captured in a video uploaded to the official All Blacks Instagram account, after the weekend win against Australia.

The video shows Smith receiving the guitar, alongside a mihi from lead singer Matiu Walters.

Walters expressed gratitude to Smith for his dedicated “service to rugby’ and to the city of Dunedin.

He highlighted the significance of the guitar, which held a special place in their history, having been instrumental in their early days.

“You know it was very important to us... we wanted to give you this gift, yes this guitar.” Walters said, having thanked Smith for being able to watch his final game in the city.

“In 660 Castle Street [the Dunedin student flat from which the band launched] we had nothing but dreams. This guitar was always in the living room and it’s where the first songs came from.”

Walters said that it was lead guitarist Ji’s but he was a bit whakama about giving a speech.

“[This is] Ji’s guitar but he didn’t wanna do the speech so...” Walters said.

“Thank you bro, we’d like you to have this,” Walters added, as the room erupted in applause.

The farewell held additional significance as Smith led the haka for the last time on home soil before the match.

The rugby veteran, boasting an impressive 118-test record, bid goodbye to his home crowd fittingly at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium, where he had previously made his mark for the Highlanders.

Smith’s final home appearance proved victorious for the All Blacks, who secured a triumphant win against the Wallabies with a score of 23-20.