All Blacks: Smith-Nonu axis back for their 27th test

Ma'a Nonu is joining the Blues next season. Photo / Getty Images

Conrad Smith. Yeah, yeah, medium-sized bloke, good skills, sharp conductor at centre, I remember him.

Consistent in the black strip for 45 tests and in the squad again but what's he been up to, where's he been?

Turns out Smith has been playing club rugby in Wellington for the past few weeks, getting his motor running again and body attuned to the international knocks which will start for him tonight against Fiji at Carisbrook.

The 29-year-old has been in the panelbeating shop again this year to fix several unusual injuries. His beak was smashed against the Brumbies and Smith needed some serious surgery to repair the damage.

"I got through the first half of the Super 15 then I had my nose and ankle problems," he said.

"It feels like I have missed a lot but the way the season goes I'll still end up playing more than 20 games of footy which I think is more than enough.

"The nose was a decent whack. It was bizarre. It was head on head and I took the impact through my nose and did a bit of damage.

"They had to operate straight away, it was pretty uncomfortable, not ideal and it still feels a bit unnatural what they have done.

"They cut through nerves, it was a very strange injury and is still a little bit tender but has come through well."

Not so the Hurricanes who struggled to the end of the season with management, coach and player rifts. Smith has stayed but his midfield buddy Ma'a Nonu is joining the Blues next season.

That separation had not yet sunk in for Smith who lines up with his mate tonight for their 27th test together, one short of the record Walter Little/ Frank Bunce liaison.

Smith had not thought much about the new shape of the Canes backline, that would have to wait until next year. For now everything seemed normal as he and Nonu suited up for Fiji.

It seemed an extension of normal days. It would be strange not to have Nonu in Hurricanes colours with him next year but he'd have to wait until then to understand the impact.

He could not speak for Nonu but he felt that after time, they took some of the links and benefits for granted - the partnership, the connections, the playing sympatico.

They were so used to playing alongside each other and didn't have to give it too much thought. In a way that was reassuring and one less thing you had to think about in preparing for a test.

"At first Tana [Umaga] was there with us at the Canes and All Blacks and then Ma'a was on the wing but you get to know each other," said Smith.

"It is great to have that relationship, that feeling of familiarity that you need in the midfield."

Smith played off the bench the last time Fiji played the All Blacks in his third test in 2005 at Albany.

"I was stoked I was in the squad then and Tana was there and it was great buzz because the Lions were coming later that year."

After another 40-odd tests, Smith is very comfortable with his place and understanding of test rugby. That comfortable is not to be confused with complacent, Smith knows how to play test rugby and how to deal with it.

"I know every game you miss through injury or whatever, it still gives you that edge again to get back and you do wonder every time until your name is called," he said.

"I hear it from people, 'you are going to make it,' but you look each week at those other players going round and I am forever rating new players ahead of myself, and that keeps me working hard.

"It is the mindset I have and probably the one you need in this side where you have to work hard to keep ahead of all the challengers."

Being picked in the All Blacks still provoked the same spark it did for Smith when he first made it in 2004.

"Even talking to Tana and Richie [McCaw], when they had played a lot, they said without any doubt they still had that spark.

"I could easily give the same answer after playing 45 tests.

"You don't want to disappoint the jersey, you have to feel like that always and I'd love to be here for a few more years yet."

For the first time though the 29-year-old has started to ask and think a bit more about life after rugby.

Whatever happens at the World Cup, next year will be a change. Smith did not feel any great desire to play overseas, that has never really interested him.

"But you have to think about your time in the game at some stage and when or what I am going to do with my law degree.

"I still want to play in New Zealand next year and if I am lucky enough, to play for the All Blacks.

"I appreciate I am in a different boat to some of the other guys.

"Some of it comes down to your background and why you play the game. For some of the boys rugby is their life but I am a bit different.

"I know I have a life after rugby that I can pursue, I want to do something else whatever that is."

Smith has kept his hand in at law. He could not see the sense in throwing away the years of study and hard work. That would be a waste and he wanted to justify the time he spent working towards his degree.

But tonight the opening exam is Fiji, the focus is footy and the start of the push towards a certain tournament starting in New Zealand inside two months.