Halfback's pace key to All Black game plan

Aaron Smith says he has to be honest about when he's worn out in a test. Photo / Getty Images

Aaron Smith has defied convention in what to expect from a halfback.

The importance of Aaron Smith to the All Black game-plan is hard to exaggerate. At Twickenham tomorrow morning, he'll be, arguably, the most influential All Black on the field.

Richie McCaw will be huge. He always is. Kieran Read will be high impact with Brodie Retallick and there will no doubt be finishing excellence from Julian Savea and miracle offloads from Sonny Bill Williams.

But the key to the All Blacks' plan at Twickenham is pace. That's the killer ingredient as far as they are concerned when they take on an England side that are hugely physical, yet not quite equipped aerobically to play at a relentless tempo.

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England want to be all pass and dash but what they don't perhaps realise is that to play like the All Blacks, they have to have players like the All Blacks. And they don't have a halfback like Aaron Smith.

No other international team has a player like Smith, who has rewritten the rules this season on what is possible for a No9 in the test arena.

The common view among coaches not so long ago was that no halfback could go 80 minutes in a test. It was too demanding; too hard on the body to cover close to 10km in a game at just about maximum pace.

But Smith is doing it regularly and superbly. Everyone talks about the speed and accuracy of his pass - a thing of beauty - but in actual fact, it's how quickly he arrives at each ruck and how quickly he moves the ball off the floor that is making the difference.

If the forwards strip the breakdown quickly and leave clean ball, Smith will have it whipped away almost the millisecond it is available.

For first-five Aaron Cruden, that speed of movement means so much. "I think the speed of ball we have been able to create with the little man getting to the rucks so quickly and even before that the forwards up front laying a platform for him, it really allows the backs to see the opportunities that are in front of us," he says.

"As a first-five, when your halfback is there nice and quick and the ball placement from the forwards is fast, it allows you to see the pictures in front a lot clearer to execute what you need. You can see from watching the game we have been able to create a lot of space through that speed of ball."

When the All Blacks managed to deliver that quick ball against England in June, they left them gasping. England were in it when they were able to plod to lineouts and keep the game confined to the tighter channels.

As soon as the All Black forwards were able to recycle the way they wanted, Smith and Cruden did all the damage.

Throughout that series, Smith played close to every minute. It was one of those moments that changed expectation and by and large, he's been playing close to 80 minutes a test ever since.

How demanding that is he revealed only this week. "[You are] always looking to the bench after about 60 to 70 minutes. Still checking ... is he [the replacement halfback] getting up?

"Sometimes the way games go - especially near the end - it is sometimes really easy to make the decision to sub. There have been games when I have made the decision - when I have literally been out on my feet. And in other games they [coaches] read it well and they see that I still have a spring in my step.

"In that Aussie game [in Brisbane] I was out on my feet after 70 minutes and I said to the trainer 'that's me'.

"I have got to be pretty honest about that judgment and I am not going to be one to stay out there for pride. I am there for the team and when I know I can't do my role the best that I can, and it is not going to be better than TJ [Perenara], I am more than happy to say get me off."