{"id":10758,"date":"2012-05-28T10:13:04","date_gmt":"2012-05-28T08:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/05\/rugby-smith-cuts-to-the-chase-for-all-blacks-spot\/"},"modified":"2012-05-28T10:13:04","modified_gmt":"2012-05-28T08:13:04","slug":"rugby-smith-cuts-to-the-chase-for-all-blacks-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-smith-cuts-to-the-chase-for-all-blacks-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-Smith cuts to the chase for All Blacks spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Greg Stutchbury<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

WELLINGTON<\/span> May 28 (Reuters) – All Blacks hopeful Aaron
\nSmith is used to making cuts.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But this week in Wellington the former apprentice
\nhairdresser is well aware that at least one, if not two, of the
\nfour scrumhalves at a 35-man All Blacks training camp in New
\nZealand’s capital will be trimmed when coach Steve Hansen names
\nhis 30-man squad to face Ireland on Sunday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s a bit of a weird format, it’s a training camp, so I’m
\njust trying to do all of the little things right both on and off
\nthe field,” the Otago Highlanders scrumhalf told reporters in
\nWellington on Monday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m chuffed to be here, and very excited to be in the
\nenvironment. I’m just trying to soak up as much as possible.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Mindful that World Cup winning teams have suffered a
\nhangover in the following year, Hansen has tried to balance his
\nfirst squad with players who have proved themselves at
\ninternational level as well as injecting fresh blood.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

As such, Smith’s competition for the coveted black jersey at
\nthe camp include World Cup winners Andy Ellis and Piri Weepu and
\nfellow youngster Tawera Kerr-Barlow of the Waikato Chiefs.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Wellington Hurricanes scrumhalf TJ Perenara is also
\nknocking, loudly, at Hansen’s door after another superb
\nperformance in his side’s 66-24 demolition of the Melbourne
\nRebels last Saturday, something that Smith said he was well
\naware of.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“(They’re) all coming through at once, which is a bit of a
\nbugger,” joked the 23-year-old Smith who came to prominence from
\none of the smaller unions, Manawatu.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON May 28 (Reuters) – All Blacks hopeful Aaron Smith is used to making cuts. But this week in Wellington the former apprentice hairdresser is well aware that at least one, if not two, of the four scrumhalves at a 35-man All Blacks training camp in New Zealand’s capital will be trimmed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-10758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}