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Aaron Smith backs injured Highlanders teammate Ben Smith to return sooner than 6-8 weeks

May 7, 2019

The Highlanders fullback could've played his last match for the Otago franchise after suffering a hamstring strain.

Aaron Smith is backing his injured Highlanders teammate Ben Smith to return sooner than 6-8 weeks after the fullback suffered a hamstring injury last Saturday against the Chiefs in Dunedin.

The All Blacks halfback says he feels for his teammate Ben Smith and said he expected the diagnosis to be much worse after watching the incident unfold on the field.

"It's a bit of a bummer, but 6-8 weeks from how the injury looked you could say that it is very lucky," said Aaron Smith.

"Very sad to see Bender [Ben Smith] go down like that, [when] any of your mates go down like that it's a bit disappointing."

Late in the second half Ben Smith hyper-extended his leg after slipping into a big tackle by Chiefs flanker Luke Jacobson.

"I know our medical team and I know he'll have the Highlanders and All Blacks medical teams working together. They got me back earlier than six weeks," Aaron Smith said.

Aaron was expected to be out of rugby action for 4-6 weeks after suffering an ankle injury in March, but missed only two games for the Highlanders making his return in his side's 31-31 draw against the Chiefs last weekend.

"Bender will work really hard to get back and I'm sure he doesn't want that to be his last Highlanders game." 

Ben Smith has played more than 150 Super Rugby games for the Highlanders and will head to France to play for Pau after this year's Rugby World Cup in Japan.

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