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These are the ones you remember - Aaron Smith relishing Lions decider

New Zealand scrum-half Aaron Smith

Aaron Smith is relishing the big occasion of a series decider between New Zealand and the British and Irish Lions in Auckland on Saturday.

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The Lions kept their hopes alive with a memorable 24-21 success in Wellington at the weekend, capitalising on Sonny Bill Williams’ first-half red card and fighting back from 18-9 down midway through the second period.

Steve Hansen and the rest of the All Blacks camp had few complaints with the defeat at Westpac Stadium, which ended a 47-match winning run at home, dating back to 2009.

But with the series perfectly poised heading back to Eden Park – where the world champions won the opener 30-15 – scrum-half Smith is raring to get stuck in.

“It’s what you play rugby for, these big games. I could play today. I am ready to go,” Smith said.

“But it is about building the week and the whole experience. These are the ones you remember.

“It’s in our hands about what we can do this Saturday. We were here a couple of weeks ago, this hotel is a second home to us. Auckland always puts on a good show, and it is just about building the week.

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“It’s 1-1. We can’t look back. We have got to look forward and turn up with the best attitude we can.”

As a potential replacement for the suspended Williams, who saw red for a shoulder charge to the head of Anthony Watson, the All Blacks have called up Highlanders centre Malakai Fekitoa.

“He is a very physical player, very confrontational,” Smith said. “He will go hard, do his job really well and also probably if he gets an opportunity, maybe there is a bit of a no-fear attitude coming in. He knows what he has to do.” 

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H
Hellhound 50 minutes ago
Pat Lam blasts 'archaic' process that lost the All Blacks Tony Brown

Now you are just being a woke, jealous fool. With the way things are run in NZ, no wonder he couldn't make a success there. Now that he is out shining any other New Zealanders, including their star players, now he is bitter and resentful and all sorts of hate speeches against him. That is what the fans like you do. Those in NZ who does have enough sense not to let pride cloud their vision, is all saying the same thing. NZ needs TB. Razor was made out to be a rugby coaching God by the fans, so much so that Foz was treated like the worst piece of shitte. Especially after the Twickenham disaster right before the WC. Ad then he nearly won the WC too with 14 players. As a Saffa the way he handled the media and the pressure leading up to the WC, was just extraordinary and I have gained a lot of respect for that man. Now your so called rugby coaching God managed to lose by an even bigger margin, IN NZ. All Razor does is overplay his players and he will never get the best out of those players, and let's face it, the current crop is good enough to be the best. However, they need an coach they can believe in completely. I don't think the players have bought into his coaching gig. TB was lucky to shake the dust of his boots when he left NZ, because only when he did that, did his career go from strength to strength. He got a WC medal to his name. Might get another if the Boks can keep up the good work. New exciting young talent is set to join soon after the WC as dangerous as SFM and Kolbe. Trust me, he doesn't want the AB's job. He is very happy in SA with the Boks. We score, you lose a great coach. We know quality when we see it, we don't chuck it in the bin like NZRU likes to do. Your coaching God is hanging on by a thread to keep his job🤣🤣🤣🤣

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