Rhyno Christo Smith (born 11 February 1993) is a South African professional rugby union player for the Benetton in United Rugby Championship. He usually plays as a fullback, but can also play as a fly-half or winger.
Rugby career
Leopards / NWU Pukke
2012 season
Smith was born and grew up in Paarl in the Western Cape, but never earned a provincial call-up while at high school level. Upon finishing school, he moved to Potchefstroom where he joined the academy. He was included in the squad that participated in the 2012 Under-19 Provincial Championship, making ten appearances and scoring 38 points for his side that finished in fifth position on the log. He scored three tries during the competition in matches against on his debut, against in his second match and against .
2013 season
Smith made twelve appearances for the squad in the 2013 Under-21 Provincial Championship, scoring 33 points for his side, including tries in matches against and , but again missed out on the play-offs, with the team finishing in sixth place on the log.
2014 season
Smith was included in the university team 's squad for the 2014 Varsity Cup and was named in the matchday squad for all nine of their matches, but made just two starts and five appearances as a replacement. His side finished top of the log to qualify for the semi-finals. Smith scored just two points throughout the season, but it proved to be absolutely vital, as he kicked a last-minute penalty in their match against in the semi-final in a 19–18 victory. He was an unused replacement in the final, which won in dramatic fashion as they fought back from 33–15 down with five minutes to go to achieve a 39–33 victory. In the second half of 2014, Smith returned to the squad for their 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship campaign. He started their first eight matches of the competition, scoring 87 points to make him the Leopards' top scorer during the competition and the fifth top scorer overall. His points tally consisted of hat-tricks of tries in their matches against and , a brace of tries against , three further tries in matches against Sharks U21, and and 32 points with the boot.
He missed the team's run-in to the season after being promoted to the senior team, playing in the 2014 Currie Cup First Division. He made his senior debut in their third-last match of the regular season against the in Welkom, coming on as a replacement during their 31–37 defeat. He was promoted to the starting line-up for their second match against the in East London and also scored his first senior try in the 17th minute of a match that finished 34–19 to the visitors after a floodlight failure forced the game to be abandoned after 58 minutes. He played his first full match the following week, kicking five conversions in a 50–29 victory over the , a result that saw the Leopards finish top of the log to qualify for the semi-finals. They faced the Falcons for the second consecutive week in their semi-final encounter; Smith scored two first-half tries, but it was not enough for the home side, as the Falcons avenged their defeat from a week earlier to win 31–24, eliminating the Leopards from the competition.
2015 season
Smith firmly established himself in the team for the 2015 Varsity Cup, starting all nine of their matches. He scored tries in their matches against , , and during the regular season, helping them qualify for a play-off spot by finishing in fourth position on the log. Smith's three penalties and one conversion proved crucial in their semi-final match against as they won 29–28 to qualify for their second successive final. However, as in 2014, Smith find himself on the losing side in the final, as Bloemfontein-based university easily won 63–33 in the final. In total, Smith scored 101 points during the competition to finish as the overall top scorer. He was named the Player That Rocks for the competition and also included in a Varsity Cup Dream Team that was named at the conclusion of the season. Smith scored a try (which was later nominated as the try of the season) and kicked a conversion in the Dream Team's defeat to the South Africa Under-20s as the latter prepared for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship.