KEY POINTS:
Centre Conrad Smith has an old home ground demon to exorcise and a mystery group of test rugby players to do it against when the All Blacks tackle Samoa in New Plymouth tonight.
The last time Smith was at Yarrow Stadium, the ground he grew up next to, he broke his leg playing for the Hurricanes against the Western Force early in the 2006 Super 14 championship.
It put a speed bump in his burgeoning test career, and it is only this year that the Wellingtonian has been able to cement the first choice centre role.
He faces a unique challenge tonight against a backline comprising players plucked entirely from the Samoan domestic competition and boasting just 27 matches for their country between them.
Their technique on both attack and defence is sure to provide some interesting moments for the All Blacks, who nevertheless are expected to run up a cricket score.
Smith said the match against their second-string opponents was an ideal buildup for the Tri-Nations decider against Australia in 10 days, a view that further calls into question whether it should have test status.
"The alternative was to not play at all and this is much better than that," Smith told NZPA.
"If you do your own training, it's nothing like running around with the team and throwing the ball around. We definitely wouldn't have wanted to go to Brisbane without any game at all and trying to lift to that level."
Some of the All Blacks' least impressive performances in recent seasons has been against weak opposition, most notably against minnow opponents Portugal and Romania at last year's World Cup, and against Canada in Hamilton months earlier.
Maintaining standards in the face of a Samoan side unlikely to match the speed, skill and fitness of the New Zealanders was an important challenge, Smith added.
"It is going to be tough not to let things slip but I think the coaches have done it smart. To have a full week of training for a game like this probably wouldn't have worked.
"At the very least this gives us something to play together, whoever it's against, rather than just training or trying to do our own stuff in the gym."
All Blacks coach Graham Henry had no concern that tonight's fixture would dull his team's senses ahead of the Wallabies' clash.
"The game in Brisbane is a winner takes all. You can't get anything bigger than that," Henry said.
"We played Australia in Sydney recently and we were pretty poor (lost 19-34).
"We don't want that to happen again. There's all sorts of reasons why the guys should be on the edge.
"I don't think that will be a problem. It's just a matter of who is going to be the best team."
Meanwhile, Hawera-born and New Plymouth-raised Smith had enjoyed returning to his old home town a few days earlier than his teammates last week to spend time with parents Trevor and Marian, along with other relatives dotted around Taranaki.
The 26-year-old attended Francis Douglas Memorial College and played age-group cricket for Central Districts in 1994 and 1995 and for Taranaki up until 1999 before leaving to study law in Wellington.
A return to live here isn't out of the question but not for a while.
"It's a great place, I think, when you're older," he said.
"Wellington's an awesome city when you're my age and you want things moving on a faster track for a little while."
- NZPA
