Rugby: 13 will be unlucky for Kahui or Smith

Richard Kahui. Photo / Sarah Ivey

There will be no shortage of games within the game when New Zealand's best two Super rugby teams meet in Hamilton tonight, but by far the most intriguing matchup is at centre.

Conrad Smith, the sublimely talented All Blacks' incumbent, is at the peak of his powers. His rival for the All Blacks 13 jersey, Richard Kahui, is four years younger but already looks the complete package.

Assuming they stay injury free, both are certainties for the All Blacks squad for the inbound tours of France and Italy next month.

But which one gets the start in the first match against the French on June 13, and who is chosen to start the major contests of the international season during the Tri Nations, is perhaps the most intriguing poser for Graham Henry and his selection panel.

Smith was favoured last season but Kahui's cameos as a fill-in winger meant neither was sidelined for an extended period. With first choice wingers Sitiveni Sivivatu and Joe Rokocoko both fit and available, and others such as Lelia Masaga and Rudi Wulf also pressing their cases, such a neat solution is unlikely to be found this time around.

If injury doesn't intervene, it will have to be one or the other. Smith knows Kahui is breathing down his neck, but he insists it is not something that bothers him.

"There is no real point thinking about it because you don't get far. I've had it every year that I have been around - there is always someone whose form I'm getting asked about.

"It is good to have other guys pushing you but that is always the case in New Zealand. If it wasn't [Kahui] there'd be someone else," he said.

"And if I wasn't here there'd be another two or three centres playing for Wellington and looking pretty good. That's the great thing about New Zealand rugby.

"But it is a team game and that is why I love it. If I'm winning I'll be happy and I'm sure he's the same."

While it might be more entertaining to cast the pair as fierce rivals, the reality is more mutual admiration society. "I think he is a great player", is Smith's assessment of Kahui.

"I haven't seen a lot of their games but he appears to be in good form from what I've seen."

Kahui, meanwhile, could hardly be more effusive in his praise of Smith. "It is not Conrad versus me as much as everyone likes to think it is.

"It is more just us trying to do our individual jobs right.

"But with Ma'a [Nonu] there I think a lot of people forget that Conrad is actually quite a good ball runner. The last few weeks he has shown that he can bust the line and score tries. In the past, people have labelled him as just a distributor but he is starting to look the total package."

Nonu's menacing presence inside Smith will ensure he has his hands full but Kahui believes he has a more-than-capable ally in Chiefs second five-eighths Callum Bruce.

"[Smith and Nonu] have played plenty of years together and they are a combination that has the mixture just right with power and pace," he said.

"They are the two best in the country but, in saying that, Brucey and I are starting to make some really good leaps and bounds. It is going to be a huge challenge for us, we know we have got our hands full with those two, but we are going to ask a few questions of them as well."