Head to Head: Smith v Rougerie
The battle at outside centre is an interesting one, between two players who have been away from the headlines during the World Cup. We look ahead to the one-on-one clash between Conrad Smith and Aurélien Rougerie in Sunday’s RWC Final.
Neither Smith nor Rougerie have been the architects of victories for their teams at the World Cup, but they have not had a costly blunder in a match or even been caught misbehaving off the field.
What they have in common is that they are both experience team men, who quietly get on with their business in the centre of the park and look to hold the line for the creative players around them. That will be crucial come Sunday’s finale.
Smith has missed just one match during the tournament and has won his battle to be Ma’a Nonu’s midfield partner, seeing off the challenges from Sonny Bill Williams, Richard Kahui and Isaia Toeava in the process – the trio having been moved to the wing to accommodate Smith at No.13.
Rougerie has been the mainstay of the French midfield and has started in every match during the World Cup, as coach Marc Lievremont has stuck by his decision to deploy the big wing at centre – even captaining the side on one occasion.
In their statistical comparison smith has the upperhand, having made more tackles, missing fewer and being more effective on attack. Both players choose to balance passing and running the ball very evenly, doing each roughly 50 percent of the time, while neither is comfortable kicking away possession unless they have no other choice.
Smith is visibly more comfortable at centre and has the ability to slide through the gap, while Rougerie chooses to crash the ball into the defence, using his size to get the team on the front foot.
Both players have been starved of possession to a certain extent and will desperately want more ball to play with in the final.
When they met in the pool match between NZ and France, Smith and the other defenders were able to stop Rougerie in his tracks every time, to the extent that he didn’t cross the advantage line one in his five ball carries! Smith, on the other hand, matched his five ball carries, beat three defenders, but was unable to make major inroads running only 23 metres in total.
With both the outside centres struggling to do any real damage during the tournament, if either of them are able to find their form in the final they are more than capable of being a match-winner given half a chance come Sunday.
Statistical comparison – Conrad Smith v Aurélien Rougerie:
Smith (30 years old):
Matches played: 5
Tries scored: 1
Try assists: 3
Tackles made: 33
Tackles missed: 3
Balls kicked/passed/run: 1/26/28
Total running metres: 154
Clean breaks: 3
Defenders beaten: 10
Rougerie (31 years old):
Matches played: 6
Tries scored: 0
Try assists: 3
Tackles made: 26
Tackles missed: 8
Balls kicked/passed/run: 4/20/25
Total running metres: 100
Clean breaks: 0
Defenders beaten: 2
Our verdict: “The pair have been equally unimpressive so far at the World Cup, but with so many stars in the All Blacks side it could be France who will lean on their outside centre more for stability, whilst Smith does damage with ball in hand. Rougerie needs to prove that he belongs at centre and made a difference, or the next French coach may see him as obsolete.”
By Timmy Hancox
