Born: May 19, 1955 – Greymouth
Test record: 14 Tests (1979-80, 1982-83) – 1 try, 24 goals (51 points)
Tours: 1980 tour of Britain and France, 1982 tour of Australia and Papua New Guinea

West Coast’s goalkicking half Gordon Smith played 14 Tests for New Zealand from 1979-84.

The rugged Waro-Rakau playmaker succeeded long-serving halfback Ken Stirling in the Kiwis’ line-up for the 1979 home series against Great Britain, featuring in the first two Tests before being replaced by Shane Varley for the third.

Smith was chosen at five-eighth alongside Varley for the series opener against Australia in 1980, then shifted to halfback for the second Test. In between, he helped steer South Island to a famous 12-11 upset of the tourists in Christchurch.

The 25-year-old subsequently wore the No.7 in all five Tests on the Kiwis’ tour of Britain and France and took over the goalkicking. He landed four goals in the 14-all draw in the series opener against Great Britain and three in the 12-8 second-Test victory, then scored his lone Test try to help New Zealand level the series against France with an 11-3 win in the second and final encounter.

Ruled out of the 1981 home series against France by a knee injury, Smith returned for the 1982 tour of Australia and Papua New Guinea and top-scored with 85 points from 10 appearances. He kicked four-from-four in the narrow series-opening loss to Australia and landed nine goals in the 56-5 defeat of Papua New Guinea, when he moved to five-eighth as Clayton Friend came in to debut.

Smith bowed out of the international arena in triumph, playing halfback in the first-Test loss to Australia in Auckland then switching to five-eighth again to team up with Varley and guide the Kiwi to a sensational 19-12 win at Lang Park.

Smith joined Hull Kingston Rovers for the 1982-83 campaign and stayed for six seasons, playing in the club’s losses in the 1984-85 premiership final and the 1986 Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

Returning to New Zealand, he was a player-coach for Canterbury club Halswell from 1989-92, leading the Hornets to a grand final in 1991. He later coached Lincoln University in 1994-95, leading to his appointment as New Zealand Universities coach in 1995.