Smith looking for the perfect send off from New Zealand

The side he has helped guide for the last eight seasons was leading 20-6 and assured of a place in the final against France on Sunday at Eden Park, and Smith knew he had one more good week left with the All Blacks.

“It sunk in a while ago that this was going to be my last week [but] it was a special feeling in the box with about five minutes to go, knowing that it was going to go another week,” the 54-year-old said yesterday as he prepares for his final test with the team.

“You can imagine how much effort, time and work by everyone has gone into getting to this situation. To be given an opportunity to be in a final, that is all you want. One team is going to come away as World Cup winners on Sunday and you just want that opportunity.”

Smith is leaving the All Blacks to join Super rugby club side Waikato Chiefs in an advisory role after the World Cup, ending a formidable coaching triumvirate with head coach Graham Henry and Steve Hansen that began in 2004.

The trio have notched up 87 victories in 102 tests, though Smith was also involved in the All Blacks for four years when he was a technical advisor to All Blacks coach John Hart from 1998-99 and head coach in 2000-01 before he stepped down and went to Northampton.

A running fly-half with an accurate tactical kicking game, Smith played 35 games, 17 of which were Tests, for the All Blacks from 1980 to 1985.

But it was time spent in Italy in the twilight of his playing career that developed his coaching philosophy – which is intertwined with a French twist.

“French rugby has had a huge influence [on my coaching],” he said.

“A lot of my coaching was shaped when I was in Italy. I had a couple of mentors there. [France international] Pierre Villepreux and (former Benetton Treviso coach) Andre Buonomo, who a lot of people don’t know. He had a huge influence on me.”