Aaron Smith makes intriguing All Blacks admission as great scrum-half concedes ‘fire burns deeply in me’

Aaron Smith has hinted that he would be open to an All Blacks recall should New Zealand Rugby change their stance on their overseas policy.

The 35-year-old earned 124 caps for the national team, becoming one of the game’s greatest ever scrum-halves in the process.

However, he signed a deal to play in Japan prior to the 2023 Rugby World Cup, with the global tournament his last competition for New Zealand.

Having signed a long-terms deal in Japan, that appeared to be the end of Smith’s international career, but the playmaker admits that he has had second thoughts.

‘Your mind can’t help but run’

“When the team naming happened, my heart skipped a beat a little bit and to be honest I got excited,” he told the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast.

“When a few of the boys got hurt, to be honest I was like, I know the rule is the rule in New Zealand and you can’t but I heard some backdoor by-law that in an emergency situation someone could be brought in.

“I didn’t hear anything but the last 13 years I woke up wanting to be an All Black and trained like that. My mindset and my discipline [was that], but once the World Cup finished and I finished the Japan season, I was cooked.

“A big 2023 rolled into a Japan season so I was mentally and physically gone, but I had two or three months off and started training, and then your mind can’t help but run.

“If they called, are you ready? And I wasn’t ready. I had incentives in my mind to drive me around; if they called would you answer and what would you say?”

‘It’s hard to watch’ – Aaron Smith gives verdict on Scott Robertson’s All Blacks

Smith is unlikely to return to New Zealand as a player, which means that if he were to become eligible again, the NZR would have to change their laws.

Currently, Scott Robertson is not allowed to pick individuals featuring for clubs overseas, but the head coach has previously urged the governing body to keep an “open mind” in regards to the policy.

How it ended for Smith

The half-back ultimately has mixed feelings about returning to the New Zealand set-up, however, and Smith is content with the fact that his stint in a black jersey ended in a World Cup final.

“The rule hasn’t changed and it probably won’t in the next few years but I used it as fuel. If they ever call, why I played rugby was to represent my country and to wear that black jersey and the silver fern,” he said.

“That fire burns deeply in me and I’ll be honest, the last two weeks going into this pre-season, I was like, ‘hey, if I can have a good Japanese season and something happens at New Zealand Rugby…’

“My wife said to me on the couch after the first Test: ‘Do you miss it?’ And everyone asks [that question]. I kind of do but I went out in a World Cup final, I couldn’t ask for a better finish.”

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