Ben Smith appears capable of successfully filling just about any position in the All Black backline.

Ben Smith’s talents might be appreciated more if he rebranded his image and called himself Benji Smith.

A couple of things became clear about Ben Smith last week.

The first is that he’s probably the most natural and best-equipped footballer New Zealand has produced in the professional age.

The second is that he’s in danger of that fact never being widely acknowledged.

Herald on Sunday

Some world-class footballers have emerged from New Zealand in the past two decades – men, whom if the grotesque analogy could be excused, climbed out of the womb with a rugby ball in their hands.

Smith is as good as any, if not better, and yet it feels like there’s reticence and uncertainty to see him this way. It could be his name, utterly devoid of exotic connotations.

His competitors in the natural talent mark have the advantage of better branding: Christian Cullen, Carlos Spencer even Daniel Carter sounds mysterious in comparison with Ben Smith.

It could also be Smith’s obvious lack of physical weaponry. At 1.85m and 93kg, it’s not obvious how he causes any damage or even survives in test football.

Perhaps it’s also because he plays for the Highlanders, a team long without pomp or ceremony.

It could have something to do with his slow beginning. Capped in 2009, Smith didn’t become a squad regular until 2012 and a starter until last year. He began to show his full range of skills at 26, an age when both Spencer and Cullen were on their last All Black legs.

And then, of course, there’s Smith’s steadfast refusal to be anything other than understated. As good as he is at beating defenders, he’s even better at deflecting praise.

He’s the quintessential Kiwi kid whose deference is neither contrived nor reserved for public show.

Forced into the unfamiliar role of second-five for 40 minutes against South Africa in Wellington last weekend, Smith was nothing short of sensational.

He’d barely played the position and yet he was the most influential back on the field.

Asked about his performance, he met the questions with his usual boy-next-door response, suggesting it was a combination of luck and the contribution of others that helped him through.

“It’s always good having a guy like Conrad [Smith] beside you. He makes the job a lot easier so I was just making sure I was talking a lot to him,” offered Smith as a summation of his work.

Thankfully, his coaching staff are more effusive and cognisant of the importance of Smith, of the true extent of his talents.

Having taken a risk in not putting any specialist cover on the bench to play the Boks, the All Blacks could have been in a spot of bother when Ma’a Nonu broke his arm.

They could have been, but the selectors had every confidence in Smith.

“For a long time, we have known he’s a really good rugby player in any position,” said coach Steve Hansen. “We know he plays first-five for his club at times – not that he’s played much over the last few years for his club – but coming into us, he played a lot of first-five.

“You can see when we play touch he’s comfortable with the ball in his hand and comfortable taking and giving a pass under pressure and we knew he had a kicking game.

“It was really all about him trusting his instincts and a good player’s instincts are good. He’s a good player, world-class.”

On the Sunday morning after the South Africa test, Hansen’s admiration for Smith’s performance had only grown. The key to getting the best out of Smith, as far as Hansen is concerned, is to give him licence to play what he sees, to be guided by his natural inclinations.

That’s the true sign of a football genius, a player whose only coaching advice is to go out there and play.

How many All Blacks in recent years have been trusted on that basis? Cullen, Spencer, Carter and that’s probably it.

Israel Dagg initially looked like he’d be one of those and possibly Cory Jane but neither has delivered the consistent excellence of Smith.

In time, Charles Piutau might become a do-what-you-like player but, right now, Smith is the country’s best all-round talent.

New Zealand sevens coach Gordon Tietjens is well placed to make that assessment. He’s been around to see and work with all the big names of the past two decades and he’s certain Smith, who played in the 2010 Commonwealth Games sevens team, is in the same category as Cullen.

“At that time, he hadn’t made the Tri Nations squad so he came into our sevens camp,” Tietjens recalls. “He hadn’t played sevens at that level before and wasn’t conditioned to play it, but it was immediately obvious he was a natural ball player and footballer and made the squad.

“He got better each day and grew his understanding quickly. We played in Dubai before the Games and, in the first couple of games, he was still learning the game. He was passing a lot.

“After that game, I took him aside and said it was OK to express himself. He was outstanding after that. His workrate and linebreaking were quite superb and we saw the best of him. I used him at first receiver, which is the equivalent of being a first-five. With so much ball and so much space, he was fantastic for us. I suppose I see a few similarities between him and Christian Cullen.”

He could think about rebranding himself – take a leaf out of Ben Marshall’s book and insist that from now on he be known as Benji Smith.

He could talk himself up a little, shift to the Chiefs and chase a few endorsements.

But the essence of Smith is his humility and modesty, which is why he’s not bothered there’s a significant gap between the public’s adulation and his contribution.