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Bench beckons for top rookie
It's a rarity for a rookie of the year to miss out on regular selection the following season in any team, but it's a predicament ACT Brumby Tyrone Smith is likely to find himself in this Super 14 season.
Smith is in a battle royale for a starting berth in the Brumbies' back line this year.
Unlike last year when Stirling Mortlock and Clyde Rathbone were already sidelined indefinitely before round one, the Brumbies' back line stocks are at full strength heading into the 2009 season.
With Mortlock, Rathbone, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Mark Gerrard all Wallabies players and Gene Fairbanks a regular in the team when fit, the crush for back line places is more intense than it has been for years.
So where does that leave Smith, who was last year voted the best first-year player from any of the four Australian Super 14 teams?
The younger brother of George Smith, Tyrone plays inside centre, a position in which he spent at least part of every game last season.
But Brumbies coach Andy Friend is strongly considering playing Mortlock at inside centre to give Ashley-Cooper a shot at outside centre.
The switch could destroy any chance Smith has of a starting spot as he has limited experience in other backline positions.
Friend sympathised with Smith's plight but said he might have to accept his fate.
"If everybody's fit then we as coaches will have some very healthy decisions to make and Tyrone is very much involved in that because of him being a 12, a position three or four guys could play," the coach said.
"The one thing that's given about rugby is it changes on a weekly basis.
"I've been massively impressed with Tyrone. He's so powerful, very strong through his hips like his brother and he's quick."
Friend first spotted Smith when the youngster was playing for the London Harlequins rugby league team, when Friend was coaching the Harlequins rugby union team.
He was impressed with what he saw then and has been taken aback by Smith's work ethic at training this Super14 pre-season.
But 25-year-old Smith accepts impressing the coach on the training paddock may not be enough.
"Someone has to miss out," Smith said. "Hopefully I'm in the 22 [for round one] but if not, I'll just keep working hard and try to get in there eventually."
Smith was one of the finds of the season last year, playing in each game after first-choice inside-centre Fairbanks suffered a long-term injury in round one against the Canterbury Crusaders in Christchurch.
He made the Brumbies No.12 jersey his own in what was his first professional season of rugby following five years in league.
He was satisfied with his 2008 season, but didn't believe that alone was enough for him to automatically be given another shot in 2009.
"I wouldn't say I deserve a spot," Smith said. "It was a travesty what happened with Gene and Coopy last year that led to me getting all the game time I did and I hope I made the most of those chances but this is a new year, everyone's fit and healthy and there's a new coach so everything is different."
Friend will today name Smith in an extended squad for Friday night's Super14 season opener against the Otago Highlanders in Dunedin.
http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/n...027922237.html
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