What Ben Smith learned from the sending-off that spear-headed his career in France
“The replay got played over and over again and my head just kept dropping more and more as I looked at it.”
It probably wasn’t the start that former All Black Ben Smith had been hoping for in his first match for his adopted French side.
Having played almost 300 first-class matches back in New Zealand, it’s fair to say that the Dunedin-born fullback was hardly wet behind the ears – but all those games in front of the relatively tame Kiwi crowds hadn’t prepared him for the French cauldron that he’d now found himself him.
“Before I came over to France, I used to hear that there was a big thing about playing home and away and I didn’t really get it,” Smith told RugbyPass from the southwest of France.
“I sort of thought ‘well, you should be able to play the same at home or away.’”
In Smith’s first game for Pau, played away from home at Stade Francais’ Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris, the 84-cap All Black was quickly learning that his initial expectations couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I didn’t understand until I got over here,” Smith said. “It’s totally different.”
Smith started the match with 14 on his back – the same number he donned for his international debut 10 years earlier. It was just days before Christmas and Pau were chasing their sixth win of the Top 14 season.
The game started well enough for the visitors, with former Chiefs prop Siegfried Fisi’ihoi scoring a try and Antoine Hastoy adding 6 points from the boot to build up an 11-point lead.
Stade Francais quickly fought back, however, and with the scores poised at 12-11 shortly after half-time, the unthinkable happened.
“My first game of Top 14, I think it was about 60 minutes in, I got a red card,” said Smith. “The replay got played over and over again and my head just kept dropping more and more as I looked at it.
“I kept thinking ‘hopefully it’s only a penalty or a yellow’ – and then the next thing, I turned around and it’s a red.”
The outside back was certainly never considered an ill-disciplined or careless player in New Zealand. In 84 tests for the All Blacks, he had received just one yellow card – for a high tackle in the 2015 Rugby World Cup final.
That sending-off in Smith’s Top 14 debut was a punishment for the winger using his elbow to fend off Stade Francais hooker Lucas Da Silva. It was hardly the most reckless of fends – the kind of act that would often not even be looked at twice.
At Stade Jean-Bouin, however, it was looked at over and over and over again.
“You get over here and you sort of get an understanding of the passion that home supporters have,” Smith said.
“If you’re at home, all of a sudden, everything goes up on the big screen. It might be foul play or something and it goes straight up on the screen and everyone stops watching the game. The crowd looks up at the big screen and they start to get into it.
“I think all these kind of things make it hard as an away team, if you’re traveling, because sometimes the rub of the green goes against you.
“I got three weeks for that, which was interesting. But I suppose it’s all part of the learning over here, and you’ve just got to roll with it.”
Suffice to say, Smith had quickly learned how big an impact a home crowd can really have on a result.
https://youtu.be/RIym0nAYBMg
That loss was one of many that Pau suffered in matches where they had started out well in control of proceedings.
“In the Top 14 – obviously I didn’t help when I got the red card – we just lost against Stade Francais and we had a couple of games where we were leading with a couple of minutes to go but we didn’t manage to close them out,” Smith said.
“I think this competition over here is just so tight, the top team could lose to the bottom team and there’s just nothing in these games.”
And although Pau were sitting well-adrift the top of the table when the Top 14 was called to a stand-still in early March, momentum was turning in the side’s favour.
“We played a couple of European Challenge Cup games and we managed to win a few of those, against Leicester and Cardiff,” Smith said. “We were tracking along pretty well when we beat those two teams.
“It’s unfortunate because we had a couple of big games coming up against some good teams that we wanted to have a crack at. If we managed wins then we’d be back around mid-ish table.”
For Smith personally, there have certainly been adjustments he’s had to make due to the differing conditions that the Top 14 is played under compared to Super Rugby in the Southern Hemisphere.
“Super Rugby kicks off at the end of summer so the weather’s a bit better,” said Smith.
“Even when it does get through to the winter months, down at the Highlanders we had the roof. Then you play in South Africa and in Australia, where it would be nice weather so, the games are always really, really fast.
“Whereas over here, in December and January, although we have had a couple of nice nights to play rugby, it’s probably just a wee bit more defence-orientated. The rucks get slowed down a wee bit more and that speed of ball sometimes just isn’t as quick. You can get frustrated with it.
“But there are just different ways to get involved in the game. There’s still a lot of kicking; if it’s a wet night, you still get kicked a lot of ball at the back. You do still feel like you’re into it and busy enough.”
Sad news for Highlanders fans with Japan-based Elliot Dixon confirming his plans for the year ahead. #SuperRugbyhttps://t.co/tjyWEs3mJJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 12, 2020
When all’s said and done, the rugby and lifestyle in France has been hugely refreshing for Smith, who made his professional rugby debut way back in 2007.
“I’m loving it here,” he said.
“It’s been a great opportunity to come over here and it’s made me realise that in the rugby community, in general, there are so many good people involved in the game.
“Over here, even though our French is limited, there are so many good French people that are just the same as Kiwis back home. They love the game and work really hard. It’s been great to link up with a lot of those people over here and learn a bit about how they do things. To know them as people and what makes them tick has been pretty cool.
“I’ve actually really enjoyed the transition.”
With the French lockdown ending earlier this week, Smith will simply be hoping to get out of the house and spend more time with the people and the team that have welcomed them into his their set-up.
The Top 14 won’t be back on until the 2020-2021 season kicks of further down the track but the time off will give Smith and his teammates a chance to reset after a slow start to the current year.
Providing that the former All Blacks doesn’t double his red card tally, there should be plenty of good things to come.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments