The All Blacks ground out a 21-5 win over a committed Argentina in a windy and wet Wellington on Saturday night, as the new boys to the southern hemisphere competition showed plenty on defence.
That was no surprise to Smith.
"I have only played them at the World Cup and it was exactly like that. A few of the boys had played them and maybe we can take a bit from tonight when we face them over there," Smith said.
"We did not want to get frustrated playing them, as we feel that is a danger.
"You can get sucked into their style and that would not suit us.
"We did do that to an extent and that is where we got unstuck a little, especially in the first half.
"But there was a clear message at halftime, just from the players.
"We did not have to do anything more complicated, just be simpler and keep plugging away and eventually they would crack. And eventually they did."
The rough weather obviously had an impact on the game, and Smith said the side had to be smart in what it did.
The match was a good dress rehearsal for the match against South Africa in Dunedin.
"In terms of physicality, it was exactly what we expected.
To their credit they do it very well. I don't think we were caught by surprise but we struggled to adapt to it, Maybe that is why we took a while to build a lead."
It was Smith's first game since the Super 15. He has just come back from an eye operation.
The All Blacks took a while to break Argentina down on Saturday night and did not help themselves in the opening 40 minutes.
In bleak conditions, the home side still tried to play an all-out attacking game, but in the shocking weather, and up against a tight Argentinian defence, that was always going to be tough.
But in the second half, the home side kept it a lot tighter and hung on to the ball, where previously it had looked for the million-dollar pass.
The Pumas had scored the only try of the first half when veteran prop Rodrigo Roncero burrowed over after the All Blacks had turned the ball over when trying to run the ball out from close to their line.
Two Aaron Cruden penalties had the home side ahead by one point at the break, and he extended the lead 10 minutes into the second half.
When Argentina went down to 14 men after Julio Farias Cabello was yellow-carded, winger Julian Savea went over after some nice work from Smith.
Cory Jane then scored on the other side of the field following a couple of big passes inside him.
Jane had precious few opportunities but looked lively, as did Smith. Prop Tony Woodcock got through plenty of work, and lock Luke Romano was busy throughout.
Argentinian first five-eighth Juan Martin Hernandez stamped his class on the game and halfback Nicolas Vergallo did little wrong.
Roncero deserved his try for his efforts and locks Manuel Carizza and Patricio Albacete gave their all.
All Blacks v Argentina
The scores
All Blacks 21
Julian Savea, Cory Jane tries; Aaron Cruden con, 3 pen
Argentina 5
Rodrigo Roncero try
Halftime: All Blacks 6-5.
Crowd: 29,800
