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Highlanders release 'ultimate' jersey in Ben Smith's honour

Ben Smith. (Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

Ahead of their final home game of the Super Rugby season, the Highlanders released “the ultimate jersey” in honour of Ben Smith.

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The shirt was framed, and comprises of the four teams that the fullback has played for, Otago, Green Island, the Highlanders and Kings High School. Smith is a Highlanders legend, and is set to leave New Zealand after the World Cup this year, with French outfit Pau likely to be his next destination.

This is the shirt the Highlanders created:

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByZvdt5Atw1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Unfortunately for the 75-cap All Black, he has played his final game for the Highlanders, after sustaining a hamstring injury in May. However, his legendary status with the South Island club is already secured.

Not only is Smith the franchise’s most capped player, earning his 150th cap in April this year, but he was also a pivotal member of the Super Rugby winning team in 2015.

A commemorative jersey like this is a fitting tribute to not only one of the Highlanders’ greatest ever players, but one of New Zealand’s as well.

You may also like: 2019 Rugby World Cup City Guide – Sapporo

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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