Bender puts Cup behind him and settles in to France

Retired All Black Ben Smith has put the disappointment of the All Blacks' third place at last year's Rugby World Cup behind him and says on reflection that the event had been very competitive.

Now playing his rugby in France, at Pau, although now in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, Smith told The Rugby Paper, "I thought the 2019 World Cup was very competitive, with Japan doing so well and so many other teams playing really good rugby.

"World Cups are really tough and even when we won it in 2015, I remember we were probably lucky to beat a good South Africa team in the semifinal. Things might not have gone our way at the end of that game, and then you look back to 2011 and the final against France when we had a wee bit of luck as well.

"That's what I took from World Cups because the margins are so small between going forwards or going home.

"The thing I love about rugby is you can never take what's happened before as an indicator, it's all about what you do on the day. I remember how people were giving the French stick going into that 2011 final but they played out of their skins and nearly beat the All Blacks in Auckland, so I enjoy that aspect of rugby because it means you
can never get complacent," he said.

Smith had his disappointment in Japan when not included for the playoffs games but said he still had to contribute to the preparation of the side.

"Selection was in someone else's hands and I had to just get on with it. The way I look at it, I was still lucky to be involved in a World Cup and although it didn't go how we wanted, I still managed to contribute and to bow out with two tries and a big over Wales was nice," he said.

Smith acknowledged England's effort in winning their semifinal with the All Blacks.

"Test matches against England are always special and I played in a fair few, but most people who watched that game will say they played better than us and deserved their win.

"The good thing about rugby in a World Cup is that whoever turns up on the day and plays the best rugby gets to go forward in the competition – and England well and truly did that in that semifinal," he said.

Smith is sharing the lockdown in France with Highlanders and All Blacks teammate Luke Whitelock and his family outside of Pau because there was more space for their children to roam around.

He said there was a good core of New Zealanders at Pau with Tom Taylor, Colin Slade and Daniel Ramsay still playing and Conrad Smith and Paul Tito on the coaching team.

Smith said he hadn't been tempted to stay in New Zealand to try and get 100 Test caps.

"I thought now was a good time to move on. I was 33 and at some point, you want a different challenge. I saw coming to Pau as fulfilling that challenge and a chance to spend some good time with my family after spending so many years on the international circuit in Super Rugby and with the All Blacks. I really enjoyed my time in New Zealand but just felt it was the right time to do something else," he said.

It helped that Bordeaux, Biarritz, Andorra and Spain were all close to his Pau base.