His story has been so well told — and fair enough, too, because it is a special story — that the task of adding another pile of words can appear quite daunting.
But we have to try.
Because as much as ‘‘Bender’’ was (and still is) an ordinary bloke, as much as that ‘‘Ben From Accounts’’ label fitted him so perfectly as it summed up his everyman persona, and as much as Highlanders fans got almost boringly used to seeing their beloved fullback produce inspiring performances, this is a genuine rugby great we are talking about.
My colleague, former long-serving Highlanders writer Steve Hepburn, used to grumble at the word ‘‘great’’ being over-used in sport.
Smith was sublime.
He had a sort of willowy, ethereal quality to the way he ran about the field.
It was Christian Cullen-like stuff as his balance and speed and swerve opened up gaps that should not really have existed.
Smith glided into space and wriggled out of clutching arms and just constantly got the Highlanders attack firing when it appeared nothing was on, at least not obviously.
He was never the biggest man in the backline, but he never shirked a tackle and never had a problem getting involved with the physical side of the sport, and he had an astute kicking game.
Perhaps above all, Smith had a rugby brain and levels of tactical awareness far greater than most.
He knew where to be and when, he saw things two phases ahead, and he had that great gift of almost never losing the ball when he went to ground.
That ability was nicely summarised by former Otago coach Steve Martin, who played a key role in Smith focusing on fullback after floating around the inside backs and midfield in his younger days.
‘‘But what really sets him apart is his vision. You could tell early on that he had time and could see things on the field. He was a creator, a guy who can create things for others on the field.’’
Smith has always been a loyal southern man, and he became the first Highlander to reach 150 appearances in 2019.
He was co-captain of the Super Rugby championship team of 2015.
‘‘He epitomises what a Highlanders man is,’’ coach Jamie Joseph said during that golden era.
‘‘He has got solid values and is unrelenting in trying to get better. He is always the first to training and the last to leave.’’
Smith was a halfback in the King’s High School First XV before joining his beloved Green Island club.
A quirk of his career is that three key stages all had extremely difficult beginnings.
His provincial debut came in 2007 when Otago suffered their heaviest loss in 126 years, smashed 68-7 in Wellington.
But they are not the moments we remember.
Smith scored 40 tries in 84 tests, playing most of his early All Blacks rugby on the wing before becoming arguably the best fullback in the world.
He appeared in all 14 tests in 2013 — one of the great All Blacks teams, which went unbeaten, — and was nominated for World Rugby player of the year after scoring a record eight tries in the Rugby Championship.
In 2015 and 2016, including a World Cup victory, the All Blacks won a world record 18 consecutive tests by a tier 1 nation, and Smith featured in 17 of those tests.
After stints in France and Japan, and making a heart-warming comeback for Green Island to play a 50th club game, Smith embarked on a coaching career.
He spent two years as an assistant with Otago before joining the Highlanders in 2023.
Smith, who released a book with former ODT journalist Neal Wallace, is married to former basketballer and multisport athlete Katie (nee Menzies) and has three children.
