Aaron Smith's form has been indifferent. Photo / Photosport
Aaron Smith's form has been indifferent. Photo / Photosport
Gregor Paul in Tokyo
Aaron Smith being relegated to the bench for the third Bledisloe Cup test initially feels like it should carry a shock-horror factor.
One self-inflicted period of exile aside in late 2016 followed by a subsequent loss of confidence as a result of said banishment, Smith hasbeen head and shoulders the country's best halfback since 2012.
The All Blacks team is named and he is in it – that's how it's been for seven years and why he was able to win 50 caps in record time.
So now that we have a big game, one the All Blacks are determined to win with a first-class performance to start their tour on the right note, and Smith is on the bench, that seems like justification to cry quel surprise.
Starting TJ Perenara ahead of Smith isn't some madcap idea that the selectors have sprung on a whim or without reason and while there is always some kind of reaction when a long-term senior starter such as Smith is dumped to the bench, he can't say that he didn't see this coming.
There's no escaping the fact he hasn't played particularly well in recent tests.
He certainly didn't have the influence or control he wanted in either test against South Africa and for the first time in a long time, he was totally out played by his opposite number.
Faf de Klerk, a player cut very much from the same physical mould as Smith, was quite brilliant in both games.
It wasn't just his speed around the field, his decision-making, his distribution and ordering around of the forwards that made him so influential, it was the way he got under Smith's skin.
And that was a sign that Smith's head – and therefore his overall game – is not where it needs to be for the All Blacks to generate the rhythm and width with which they want to play.
The key to Smith's game is clarity of mind. When he streamlines his thinking to simply getting to the ball quickly, putting his hands on it and whipping it away, he falls into this effortless flow where the game seems to be built around him.
Springboks halfback Faf de Klerk has had a brilliant Rugby Championship campaign. Photo / Photosport
He hasn't been in that zone for much of the Rugby Championship, though and there were telling signs that his brain was processing ideas it needn't have been.
Several times de Klerk was able to disrupt Smith at the base of the scrum and it appeared that rather than work on a plan to avoid it happening, the All Blacks halfback simply got rattled by it and further distracted from his core role.
He also had a couple of moments of doing his best Piri Weepu impression – standing with the ball at the base of a ruck, seemingly swatting flies off his hips in an attempt to organise his backline while really just gifting defence more time to reassemble and then read the telegraph he was sending about where the All Blacks were going.
His kicking game, which in recent seasons has been superb, was also a little off the mark and while Smith hasn't played horribly, he hasn't been brilliant either.
Conversely, Perenara has been much closer to the top of his game, playing maybe his best test of all in the Nelson victory against Argentina and pitching in with disciplined cameos off the bench.
TJ Perenara will start in the No 9 jersey against the Wallabies. Photo / Photosport
His elevation to the starting role against the Wallabies is most likely a reward for his better form – a promotion to remind everyone in the squad that hard work leads to reward and that there are consequences for those who can't deliver what they are being asked.
It shouldn't be seen as a longer term change in thinking, though, about the halfback pecking order.
Smith is probably being given a jolt, a system re-boot if you like to see if a stint on the bench helps him refocus and simplify his game to the point where he can return to being at his world class best.
