Rugby World Cup 2015: Ben Smith ensures All Blacks get sums right

All Blacks fullback Ben Smith was reliable under the high ball during the side's 20-18 semifinal win over South Africa. Photo / Brett Phibbs

One of his nicknames is "Ben from accounts" due to his everyman appearance, and there is every chance the All Blacks would have finished on the wrong side of the ledger against the Boks if it wasn't for the presence of one Ben Smith.

Time and again the All Blacks fullback got his team out of trouble with his ability to claim the high ball - especially on attack. His ability to leap and retain an increasingly slippery object in this maelstrom of a semifinal against the South Africans at Twickenham allowed the All Blacks to retain possession and shift the pressure back on to their opponents.

In the end it was crucial. The All Blacks - who played with such ambition, width and skill in terms of handling in their big quarter-final victory over France in Cardiff last weekend - changed their game plan entirely for this match against their traditional foe.

Out went the width game, and the risks associated with it in the drizzly conditions, and in went a safety-first strategy which involved putting the ball behind the Boks in the first half and then into the air after the break.

The Boks got some value from doing the same - especially when targeting little right wing Nehe Milner-Skudder, and Bryan Habana was excellent here - before Steve Hansen shifted Ben Smith to that area to nullify the bombardment.

Boks coach Heyneke Meyer said beforehand that the All Blacks were among the best tactical kickers in the game and after the break that shone through clearly. Willie le Roux and Co kicked increasingly poorly, with Dan Carter and Ben Smith proving increasingly effective as a combination.

"When we arrived today and knew it was going to be a wet afternoon we knew it was going to be important to play a territory game," Smith, sporting a cut on his right cheek below a black eye, said. "To put the Springboks under pressure was a big part of our game, but it was a tight one and at the end it could have gone either way.

"In those conditions you have to take what you can get. We knew it would be a tight game with two teams going at it. We knew there would be shifts in momentum, and that happened, and we just managed to get the shift when we needed it."

For Smith, consistently one of the most accurate players in this All Blacks team, the constant practising of a unique skillset - a timed leap and catch - paid off once again.
"You practice that during the week to ensure you can do it during the match.

"That's what is probably going to happen again next week," Smith said of the final at Twickenham between his side and either Australia or Argentina. "You never know how it's going to go - those last minutes of a game really important.

"You never feel confident until the final whistle. With a few minutes to go we managed to get a bit of territory which meant we could put pressure on them as we knew they only needed a penalty to sneak it. It was good to play at the right end of the field."