Aaron Smith (rugby union)

Aaron Smith

Full name	Aaron Luke Smith
Date of birth	(1988-11-21) 21 November 1988
Place of birth	Feilding, New Zealand
Height	169 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	82 kg (12 st 13 lb)
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Scrum-half
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2008-	Manawatu	43	(45)
correct as of 4 November 2012.
Super Rugby
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2011-	Highlanders	28	(15)
correct as of 29 July 2012.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2010- 2012-	Māori New Zealand	3 13	(0) (20)
correct as of 2 December 2012.

Aaron Smith (born 21 November 1988 in Feilding, New Zealand) is a rugby union player who plays at scrum-half for the Highlanders in the Super Rugby competition and for Manawatu in the ITM Cup.

Playing career

Provincial Rugby

Smith made his debut for Manawatu in the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup at the age of 19, making several substitute appearances for the Turbos. This included the historic 25-24 win over Canterbury in Round 1 and the 38-38 draw with Waikato in Round 3. Smith and fellow debutante Aaron Cruden on both of these occasions were substituted on together showing their potential by pulling back big deficits through their brilliance. They would become one of the best 9-10 combinations in the competition for the next 4 years and were later selected together for the All Blacks in 2012.^{[citation needed]}

For the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup, Smith established himself as the fist-choice scrum half for Manawatu, starting all 13 games over the course of the season and scoring his first representative try. He continued as the starter in the 2010 ITM Cup, and established himself as one of the top scrum halves in the competition and earning a Super Rugby contract.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2011 ITM Cup, Smith continued to improve and had an successful season, scoring 5 tries helping the improved Manawatu squad which reached the Championship final.^{[citation needed]}

Super Rugby

Smith was included in the Blues wider training group for the 2010 Super 14 season, but did not see any game action for the Auckland-based club.

For the 2011 Super Rugby season, Smith signed for the Highlanders to play under Jamie Joseph, who had previously coached Smith with the New Zealand Māori. He had an extremely successful debut season, beating out Sean Romans for the job as backup to starting scrum-half and All-Black Jimmy Cowan, and made 12 appearances including 3 starts.

International career

On the back of his strong performances for Manawatu, Smith was selected to the New Zealand Māori for their 2010 Centenary Series.^{[citation needed]} He came on as a substitute against the Barbarians after Chris Smylie suffered a fractured cheekbone, and started in the squad's historic victories over Ireland and England.

On the back of a successful Highlanders season Smith made his All Blacks debut on 9 June 2012, against Ireland.

External links

• Highlanders profile