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Two enigmas of New Zealand rugby are eagerly stepping into relatively unknown territory - back-to-back tests for the All Blacks.
Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith started in midfield for the first time together at test level against Ireland last week and thanks to Graham Henry's shelving of player rotation their combination has another opportunity to blossom against England at Eden Park on Saturday night.
The fact that only one change has been made to last week's All Blacks line-up met with universal approval among the starters against Ireland - prop John Afoa the only player to miss out with a knee injury.
Nonu and Smith were among the beneficiaries and are relishing another opportunity to transfer their provincial and Super 14 understanding to the test arena.
The international careers of both players have been consistently compromised with either injury breaks or form slumps but with Smith fully fit and Nonu having potentially found a permanent home at second five-eighth, the combination's immediate future appears rosy.
The All Blacks have struggled to fill the void left by Tana Umaga while the move to the northern hemisphere of Luke McAlister and Aaron Mauger gave the mercurial Nonu a golden opportunity to create havoc between the calming influence of Daniel Carter and Smith.
Outwardly Nonu and Smith appear an odd couple.
One is a dreadlocked, helter-skelter ball of muscle; the other a relatively slight analyst - brawn versus brains.
They have found common ground since making the All Blacks however, an inability to nail down a starting spot.
Nonu has started successive tests once in his career, albeit with a five-month gap between matches in 2006 while Smith has only backed up against Portugal and Scotland at last year's World Cup.
Consequently Smith has logged just 13 tests in the four years since his debut while Nonu has 19, primarily off the bench in a variety of positions.
A degree of continuity is on offer now and Smith was confident they were better equipped to take advantage.
"I think we've come a long way, especially defensively with our talk," said Smith before praising the adaptability of his partner.
"It's been hard for Ma'a. He's had to move around a lot of positions, he's spent a lot of time on the wing .... it might not seen much of a change to an outsider but defensively it's a challenge.
"The way he's reacted to all those changes has been impressive, I think he's pretty settled where he is now."
While the pair started together in a test for the first time last week, they have developed an uncanny ability to decipher each other's moves from provincial and Super 14 levels.
"Do I know what he's going to do? Only a little bit," Smith joked.
"It's something I've learned playing with him. If I think there's not much on, he might have a sense that there is an opportunity and he'll make something out.
"I've always got to be on my toes."
Nonu's distribution skill has been considered a flaw during his career but Smith insists he has improved during this year's Super 14.
"You love having guys in the backline that can create things and he's now got a variety to his game where if it's not on for him he uses his skill for the outsides."
- NZPA
