Rugby: A hundred reasons to like loyal Ben

Ben Smith is about to rack up 100 games for the Highlanders. Photo / Getty Images

Just as Samoa have become everyone's second favourite team, so too has Ben Smith probably become everyone's second favourite All Black.

The high profile brigade of Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Kieran Read, Sonny Bill Williams and Ma'a Nonu have the first vote market all wrapped up.

But Smith, for so many reasons, has become the alternate choice — a player who is universally admired and respected and not deemed to be divisive in any way.

Who doesn't like 'Bender', the boy-next-door-All Black who operates on old-world skills of footwork, timing and innate footballing knowledge? Who didn't want to find his mobile number yesterday and text him all the best on his 100th appearance for the Highlanders?

He's just that sort of player, the sort of guy who rekindles hope that professional rugby hasn't totally lost its soul.

Smith had endless opportunities to walk away from the perennially-struggling Highlanders, but never did. Dunedin is his home, his life, his love ... so why would he leave?

That sort of traditional thinking isn't found so much in the modern footballer. Plenty care for the jersey, but they also care for money.

Not Smith. He's given the Highlanders all of himself and the club would be the first to admit they have had much the better deal of that arrangement.

That the Highlanders are flying as high as they are has plenty to do with the qualities Smith brings and his near-magical ability to drag the best out of those around him.

Given he's the 37th New Zealander to play 100 Super Rugby games, the century landmark has become a little pass. It feels different in the case of Smith, however.

Different because it signals for just how long he's been the glue holding the Highlanders together, different because it confirms leaner athletes can survive in top-flight football and different because it highlights why perseverance is such a vital quality in a professional career.

First capped in November 2009, Smith never felt he quite belonged with the All Blacks.

He was on the periphery through to 2012 and pretty much decided at the end of that year that he'd be better heading offshore.

He'd given New Zealand a fair crack but couldn't quite get over the hump. The All Blacks coaches eventually persuaded him to hang in there and that he was good enough to become a world-class player.

It was a big call on Smith's part to buy that vision and commit to New Zealand for another four years but he did and his rewards have come. He got over that hump in 2013 when Cory Jane was ruled out with injury and Smith slipped into the All Blacks No 14 jersey.

If Jane had signed off in 2012 as the best right wing in the world, Smith raised that benchmark higher.

He couldn't stop scoring tries but it was his work rate, defensive chase, aerial skills and superb timing that were at another level.

His nomination as an IRB World Player of the Year vindicated his decision to stay and the All Black coaches' confidence they had a special talent.

And that's what Smith is — a special talent who really should be more than everyone's second favourite All Black.