Rugby: Smith aims to go out with a bang

Ben Smith. Photo / Getty Images

As his team did for most of the season, often elusive Highlanders fullback Ben Smith has raised more than a few eyebrows during the Super 15 rugby competition.

And though a treacherous three-week period abruptly killed off the Highlanders' playoff chances, Smith has everything to play for ahead of their season finale against the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland tomorrow night.

After all, there is no better time than a New Zealand derby match against big name opposition to further push a claim for international honours.

And, given the southerners have played themselves out of playoffs reckoning after three successive losses, this basically represents Smith's final shot.

"I'm reasonably happy with where I'm at," Smith said yesterday after a Highlanders training session in windy Dunedin.

"I've just been trying to work on different things week in, week out, but this [the Blues match] is a good chance to finish with a bang, and for the team to finish well with a win."

The 25-year-old rode the same wave as his team during the early-mid stages of the season, catapulting him into the frame for an All Blacks recall, two years after his only test, against Italy in Milan.

His reliable defence, ability to make linebreaks and set up big plays and his versatility - he can do a more than tidy job on the wing - have caught the eye this season and although he had a quiet game last week in a 33-7 away loss to the Waratahs, Smith remains an outside chance to make the World Cup if he can maintain form. Versatility is certainly a big tick in the Smith column.

He knows he is there or thereabouts, and he has taken heart from two visits by the All Blacks coaching staff.

"[The feedback] wasn't too bad," said Smith, a King's High School product and one of the few Otago-born players in the Highlanders these days.

"They actually gave me a few things that I could work on, and maybe pointed out a couple of linebreaks and things where I could have taken different options, maybe passed a bit earlier, so it was good to get that feedback."

Improving on his counter-attacking game, making sure he takes the right options, and work under the high ball have all been at the forefront of his mind this season and keys to his consistency, Smith said, along with a focus on "doing the basics".

And the basics are exactly what the Highlanders want to stress against the Blues as they look to bounce back from consecutive losses to the lowly Lions and Force, and mostly recently the Waratahs, a match that strangely saw them turn down penalty kicks in search of tries right from the outset.

"Obviously we're going out there to win, so it depends on the situation, but I'm sure if we need three points we'll take them.

"I think just closing games out has been our problem, against the Lions and the Force in the last 20 [minutes] we went a bit gun-shy and didn't keep playing, I suppose. But we're still confident in our abilities to go out there this week and get a good result."

Win or lose against the fourth-placed Blues, Smith rates the Highlanders' season a success. They sit eighth with an eight-win, seven-loss record, though a month ago they were right on track for a playoff spot and still would be had they not dropped those home matches against the Lions and Force.

"The last couple of games we've lost our way a wee bit but it's not through lack of effort. I think we've done well this year, we're just trying to put out performances the province would be proud of."

- NZPA