David Smith (born 12 October 1986) is a Samoan rugby union player who plays with RC Narbonne in the French Top 14 He previously played for the Hurricanes,

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and Western Force in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

as well as Toulon &

Castres Olympique Castres Olympique () is a French rugby union club located in the Occitanian city of Castres and is currently competing in the top level of the French league system. Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906. They play at the Sta ...

Early life and career

Smith grew up in the village of

Manase Manase is a village on the central north coast of Savai'i island in Samoa in the political district of Gagaifomauga. It has a population of 123. Situated by the sea with a white sandy beach, Manase has become a popular tourist destination sinc ...

. He was spotted whilst on a rugby tour to New Zealand and was subsequently offered a scholarship to attend Auckland's

Mount Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in ...

. His mentor and coach was former

Auckland RFU The Auckland Rugby Union is a New Zealand provincial rugby union. The union was established in 1883 and was originally responsible for the administration of the sport in most of the former Auckland Province, although its boundaries have since ...

and All Blacks player Bryan Williams, with whom he trained before being brought into the wider Auckland training squad in 2005. After a year playing for Auckland B and the Auckland Sevens team, Smith, under the tutelage of coach Pat Lam, and with the guidance and help of fellow Samoan player Brad Mika, was selected in the 2006 Auckland Air New Zealand Cup squad. He later played in the

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Global School, an English medium co-educational day school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Tekn ...

for Wellington and Taranaki David Smith also has children, four boys and one girl.

Super Rugby career

In late 2006 when he was named as one of the Hurricanes draft picks for the

2007 Super 14 season The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at ABSA Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. The ...

. This selection by Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper forced incumbent winger Roy Kinikinilau out of the team, who was subsequently drafted by the Highlanders. Expected to start as a back-up wing for the Hurricanes, Smith was part of the starting line-up the first game of the season against the Queensland Reds, relegating Samoan international Lome Fa'atau to the bench for much of the season. By the season's end, David Smith had accumulated 12 caps as well as scoring his first try against the Vodacom

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a trans-hemispheric competition that also ...

of South Africa. He was signed by the

in 2008, before returning to the Hurricanes in 2009. In November 2010, it was announced that the Western Force had signed Smith for the

2011 Super Rugby season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...

Top 14 career

Following that season, he moved to France, signing for Toulon. Before the 2015-2016 season he transferred to Castres. He then moved in 2019 to RCNM in Federal 1 league.

Honours

Club

Castres * Top 14: 2017–18

References

External links

Toulon profile

Hurricanes Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, David 1986 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players People educated at Mount Albert Grammar School Hurricanes (rugby union) players Blues (Super Rugby) players Western Force players Auckland rugby union players Wellington rugby union players Taranaki rugby union players RC Toulonnais players Samoan emigrants to New Zealand Rugby union wings Expatriate rugby union players in France People from Gaga'ifomauga