Aaron Smith has pretty much been there and done that in the rugby world.
He made his NPC debut at 19, he played for the New Zealand under-20 team and the Maori All Blacks, he played 125 tests for the All Blacks and was widely acclaimed the best halfback in the world, and he is still — at 37 — running around in the Japanese league.
And, of course, he is a Highlanders great, an utterly revered figure who might have come from outside the region but quickly established a legacy as a hero of the South.
For all that, being told he had been voted the greatest Highlander in an Otago Daily Times series marking 30 years of the team made him quite emotional, especially as he had picked near-namesake Ben to take top spot.
‘‘I’m a proud Highlander man and, yeah, I’m blown away at this,’’ Smith told the ODT from Japan.
‘‘I think there was an obvious Smith who I think is the greatest Highlander. I thought it would be Bender.
‘‘But I’ll take it, man. That’s awesome.
‘‘Just to even be in that category with a team I love and a team I put a lot of hard work into and passion, and into the community and the city ... I’m blown away.
‘‘I owe the Highlanders everything, to be honest, in my life, because of everything I got from a sport I love and a city that embraced me.
‘‘It just shows, you know, what good people are and what good people can do with a lot of support and love.’’
Smith said he had never played rugby for the accolades, but he was humbled to earn recognition through our series.
‘‘When you get a bit older, you actually cherish things like this and look back and reflect.
‘‘My last sort of month in Dunedin as a Highlander was so special, and how the city got around me and farewelled me.
‘‘I’ve got nothing but love for Dunners and Forsyth Barr and obviously our mighty blue and gold Highlanders. It’s a dear place in my heart.
The Highlanders should not, by rights, have benefited from Smith’s phenomenal contributions over 12 years.
He was a Feilding High School and Manawatu kid, so the Hurricanes might have spotted him. And he was in the Blues wider squad for a season.
Crucially, Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph had got to know all about Smith when they were in camp with the Maori squad, and offered him a deal to come to Dunedin.
Smith, who was an apprentice hairdresser and clipped some of his team-mates’ locks, sat behind established halfback Jimmy Cowan for a season, but the No9 jersey was destined to be his before too long.
He was a young spark in 2013, when the Highlanders infamously signed a bunch of star names and the season fell apart, and a superstar by 2015, when he helped inspire the Highlanders to their only championship.
From there, well, everyone kind of knows what happened.
Smith inspired the Highlanders — and changed the game at test level — with his unrivalled package of halfback brilliance.
He had a game based on extraordinary speed.
That refers to speed of thought, his instinctive ability to run into gaps, and his bullet pass that just made everybody’s life easier.
He was remarkably durable and, despite all the attention on his moderate size, never afraid to make a tackle.
Aaron Luke Smith finished his Highlanders career after the 2023 season as the club’s most-capped player — 185 games, a record that seems unlikely to be broken — and third-equal for tries (35).
So, what does he miss about being a Highlander?
‘‘I miss the stadium.You can’t beat Forsyth Barr. Fastest pitch in the world and great fans, great atmosphere.
‘‘I miss Monday to Friday with the boys. I miss preparing for a game. And I miss the people that make rugby special, the connections, the friendships.
‘‘To be successful at anything, it’s all about the preparation, and I loved how we did it at the Landers. It’s always been a bit different to other teams.
‘‘We have our own way, or we did have our own way when I was playing for them, and we had that balance of fun, laughter and hard work and toughness.
‘‘I always felt hugely honoured to run out on Forsyth Barr wearing a Highlanders jersey.
‘‘It makes me sad sometimes when I see them run out now and see the Zoo going. It just comes all rushing back. They were the best days of my life.’’
Smith is still focused on playing as well as he can for his Japanese club so does not always see his old Highlanders mates as much as he would like.
While he is ‘‘definitely in the twilight of his career’’, and the body does not recover as quickly as it once did, he is still getting a buzz out of rugby while playing for Toyota Verblitz in Japan.
‘‘The League One comp is very tough.
‘‘To be honest, it reminds me a lot of sort of early Super 12 with different teams and different styles, because we’ve got Japanese mixed with Australians, Kiwis and a heavy South African influence here.
‘‘You get that mix of teams that don’t kick and teams that just set-piece you, and we play day games here, so it just promotes running rugby.
‘‘Sometimes the game doesn’t really start until the last 15 minutes. That’s a pure form of the game. You might be up by 20 or 25 points, but that’s easy over here to change.’’
His club was supportive and the fans were a joy, Smith said.
‘‘They really appreciate it. Every home game is pumping, we’ve got a cool stadium and everyone turns up wearing green.
‘‘You train all week to play, and try to win, but when people come watch you, you get that little buzz on, and we’ve had some great home games this year.’’
He could be a lot more improvisational with the Highlanders.
‘‘In New Zealand, you can instantly change something on the fly.
‘‘You just tell someone, ‘bro, they’re jamming on us so take a step’, and New Zealanders are really good at adapting or changing the plan.
‘‘Over here, if you get in a huddle and a translator’s not in it, you can’t kind of quickly get a momentum shift or change little things, so it’s a bit tricky.
‘‘But it doesn’t beat their passion and it doesn’t beat their will. The Japanese players just have a love for rugby and a desire to be better, and I really like that.
‘‘They want to learn, and the amount of work they do each day is cool. As a foreign player, you can’t come over here and hide.’’
Smith hopes he has one more year in Japan before possibly seeking one last rugby experience, maybe somewhere different like the United States, before returning to New Zealand.
There might be one final chapter to write, but the title of the book is secure.
Aaron Smith — the greatest Highlander of all.
