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Aaron Smith and Dan Carter named greatest All Blacks No 9 and 10
Aaron Smith and Dan Carter have been named as the greatest All Blacks halfback and first-five of all-time by a panel of rugby experts and the Kiwi public.
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As part of Sky Sport’s quest to find New Zealand’s Greatest XV, a panel of leading journalists and broadcasters – Grant Nisbett, Ken Laban, Rikki Swannell and Phil Gifford – were last week asked by The Breakdown who they thought were the country’s best-ever halfback and first-five.
The panel were unanimous in their verdict that Smith, the current All Blacks No 9, and Carter, the two-time World Cup-winning No 10, were New Zealand’s greatest halves pairing.
Their verdict was supported by the Kiwi public, who voted Smith (77 percent of the public vote) and Carter (89 percent) as the best-ever All Blacks in their respective positions on social media.
Smith, the 101-test veteran who was part of the 2015 World Cup-winning All Blacks squad, drew praise from various All Blacks figures for his all-round ability, but particularly his speed and world-class passing.
“You give me one part of his game that isn’t up there as a great All Black,” former All Blacks head coach Laurie Mains told Sky Sport.
“He’s got all of the skills and all of the halfback traits – passes brilliantly, passes quickly, communicates with his forwards well, takes gaps when it’s on, knows when to pass, how to kick, where to kick.
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“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a halfback that is more complete in his game than Aaron Smith is.”
Ex-All Blacks boss Sir Steven Hansen handed Smith his test debut during his first season as head coach of New Zealand in 2012, but revealed there were some doubts over the 32-year-old’s size.
However, despite his 1.71m and 83kg stature, Smith quickly repaid the faith Hansen and his fellow All Blacks selectors had in him.
“When we first picked Aaron, it was after a lot of discussions. He’s not a very big man, but what we loved about him is his speed. He could get to the ball and then clear it,” Hansen said.
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“If you ask me if he’s a great All Black, he is. There’s no doubt about that.”
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Smith’s former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, who was voted into New Zealand’s Greatest XV as the composite team’s openside flanker, echoed Hansen’s and Mains’ sentiments.
“His ability to clear the ball quickly allowed guys like Dan Carter and Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith, to have time and space to show what they could do,” McCaw told Sky Sport.
“I think he kind of revolutionised that just by how quick he could get to the breakdown and get rid of it.”
As for Carter, McCaw – who played alongside the former 112-test All Black for almost a decade-and-a-half – added that the composure of the three-time World Rugby Player of the Year throughout his career allowed him to flourish as a playmaker.
“The great players have time and make things look easy when they’re not. Why does someone look like they have time? It’s because they’re calm under pressure and they execute things spot on,” McCaw said.
“They don’t miss those opportunities, and that’s something he did consistently throughout his career.”
Former All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu, another long-time teammate of Carter’s, shared McCaw’s opinion that the 39-year-old always looked in control of the game whenever he played.
“It always looked like Dan had time on his hands. It never looked like he was rushed or under pressure and you could just see it on his face and the way he moved,” Mealamu told Sky Sport.
“He was someone that just looked like time stood still for him when he could move the game when he wanted to. He was definitely the conductor. He had everyone singing at the speed the he wanted to play.”
Smith, meanwhile, said he was in awe that he was Carter’s teammate and halves partner throughout the latter stages of the first-five’s glittering test career.
“Dan Carter’s the man. He’s just a lad, a good Kiwi lad, humble, funny, has a good time, and then when you see him switch into game mode or training mode, he was so focused and driven on what he wanted.
“His practices, watching his skill sessions, watching him kick goals, kick drop punts, drop offs, he never looked like he shanked a kick. I passed him heaps of balls to kick and it just like that was exactly where he wanted to put it.
“He always practiced different kicks, right foot, left foot, and he just oozed confidence, but not arrogance. I still pinch myself thinking I got to throw him some passes.”
All Blacks Greatest XV
1. Tony Woodcock (118 tests from 2002-2015)
2. Sean Fitzpatrick (92 tests from 1986-1997)
3. Ken Gray (24 tests from 1963-1969)
4. Colin Meads (55 tests from 1957-1971)
5. Brodie Retallick (85 tests from 2012-present)
6. Michael Jones (56 tests from 1986-1998)
7. Richie McCaw (148 tests from 2001-2015)
8. Zinzan Brooke (58 tests from 1987 to 1997)
9. Aaron Smith (101 tests from 2012-present)
10. Dan Carter (112 tests from 2003-2015)
11. N/A
12. N/A
13. N/A
14. N/A
15. N/A
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Comments on RugbyPass
You probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
12 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
1 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
1 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
16 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
16 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
4 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
16 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
16 Go to comments