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'He's definitely setting the bar': All Blacks trainer reveals the team's most driven player

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

All Blacks trainer Nic Gill has labelled star halfback Aaron Smith as the team’s most driven player.

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Speaking to the New Zealand Herald, Gill, who has been part of the All Blacks set-up since 2004, said no player has impressed him with their work ethic and discipline like Smith has.

“The transformation he’s been through from when he first became an All Black to the professional he is now. He is working so hard not just on his team or his form but his body, his skill – his drive to be the best nine in the world is massive,” Gill said.

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“It’s just all the little things – it’s the stretching, it’s the massages, it’s getting to training half an hour before anyone else so he can do his own skill work that others aren’t doing. Doing his stretching and his rolling after sessions.

“He’s definitely setting the bar at the moment from what I can tell in the All Black group.”

Since his debut for the All Blacks in 2012, Smith has become a vital member of the New Zealand national side as he has accrued 97 test caps, a World Cup title and multiple Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship crowns.

His influence is perhaps felt even more at the Highlanders, the franchise he has played for since 2011 and since become co-captain of.

During this year’s Super Rugby Aotearoa season, the 32-year-old became the team’s most-capped player ever, and after having signed a two-year contract extension in March, Smith’s value to the Highlanders is only going to grow.

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Renowned for his fast-paced style of play and world-class passing ability, Smith has also grown into a leader and has become virtually indispensable within both the Highlanders and All Blacks squads.

Gill told the Herald that, despite Smith’s age, he doesn’t see the livewire No 9’s status in either team diminishing over the coming years given how well he prepares and recovers off the field.

“If the mindset is right and you’ve got the discipline to do all those little things… it just translates onto the park. He’s a great example of an older athlete that’s still at the top of his game and doesn’t look like slowing down.”

Gill also reserved praise for former All Blacks loose forward Liam Messam, who he described as “one of the fittest guys in the team”, and ex-All Blacks centurion Ma’a Nonu for their work ethic and durability.

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T
Tom 5 hours ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol!


It's incredible to see the boys playing like this. Back to the form that saw them finish on top of the regular season and beat Toulon to win the challenge cup. Ibitoye and Ravouvou doing a cracking Piutau/Radradra impression.


It's abundantly clear that Borthwick and Wigglesworth need to transform the England attack and incorporate some of the Bears way. Unfortunately until the Bears are competing in Europe, the old criticisms will still be used.. we failed to fire any punches against La Rochelle and Leinster which goes to show there is still work to do but both those sides are packed full of elite players so it's not the fairest comparison to expect Bristol to compete with them. I feel Bristol are on the way up though and the best is yet to come. Tom Jordan next year is going to be obscene.


Test rugby is obviously a different beast and does Borthwick have enough time with the players to develop the level of skill the Bears plays have? Even if he wanted to? We should definitely be able to see some progress, Scotland have certainly managed it. England aren't going to start throwing the ball around like that but England's attack looks prehistoric by comparison, I hope they take some inspiration from the clarity and freedom of expression shown by the Bears (and Scotland - who keep beating us, by the way!). Bristol have the best attack in the premiership, it'd be mad for England to ignore it because it doesn't fit with the Borthwick and Wigglesworth idea of how test rugby should be played. You gotta use what is available to you. Sadly I think England will try reluctantly to incorporate some of these ideas and end up even more confused and lacking identity than ever. At the moment England have two teams, they have 14 players and Marcus Smith. Marcus sticks out as a sore thumb in a team coached to play in a manner ideologically opposed to the way he plays rugby, does the Bears factor confuse matters further? I just have no confidence in Borthers and Wiggles.


Crazy to see the Prem with more ball in play than SR!

7 Go to comments
J
JW 9 hours ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

In another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.


First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.


They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.


Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.


Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.


That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup

207 Go to comments
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