Town boss Mick McCarthy says international football with New Zealand has made Tommy Smith a better player, just as involvement with the Republic of Ireland improved his own game. Smith, like his manager a centre-half, is currently away with the All Whites at a training camp in Los Angeles.
McCarthy, who won 57 full caps and scored two international goals, recalls the boost he got from breaking into international football: "I vividly remember getting in the Irish squad when I was at Manchester City and I went to my first tournament in Japan in 1984 and all the top players were there.
"I remember vividly feeling more confident, feeling a better player and coming back to City in the summer as a better player.”
He believes Smith, who has also scored two international goals and has won 22 full caps, will have received a similar lift when he appeared at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and at last summer’s Olympics in London.
The 23-year-old is likely to be in action in a friendly against MLS side Chivas USA on Saturday before the All Whites travel to Port of Spain to take on Trinidad and Tobago in another friendly on Wednesday.
The training camp and games are preparation for November’s play-offs for a place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil against the side which finishes fourth in the CONCACAF qualification group.
Those opponents are likely to be either Mexico or Panama, who meet in a crucial qualifier in Mexico City on Saturday.
McCarthy says Smith quickly caught his eye after he took over at Portman Road last November: "When I came in I was just impressed with Tommy in training as a defender because he liked to defend, he likes blocking things and tackling and heading it. He’s very good in the air.
"Everybody told me this about him, that about him and I’d seen the infamous own goal against Wolves when it hit every part of his body before it went in.
"I think he’d been unfortunate. As a defender, if you play in a team which isn’t playing well, suddenly the rick seems to be coming from you. You can get labelled with that but I have to say I haven’t seen that in him at all. He’s just been a solid part of a really solid back four for the main part.”
All three of McCarthy’s senior central defenders could be playing international football before the season is out with Christophe Berra hoping for a Scotland recall and Luke Chambers, who is currently operating at right-back for the Blues, looking to break into the Republic of Ireland set-up.
Chambers recently said that he is currently playing the best football of his career and his manager is equally pleased with his form: "He came back in from pre-season and was amazingly fit, not that he wasn’t before, because he was.
"I haven’t done anything to improve him, not really worked individually with him. We watch a fair amount of analysis on things and we’ve worked with the back four together, [helping them to gain] an understanding, and as a back eight.
"I think the organisation certainly helps him to be able to play in the back four that we’ve got.
"We did more work last year because we came in and we ended up with 10 clean sheets out of 15 or something. I’m glad he thinks he is because I think he’s playing well too.”
The Town boss has been impressed with the 28-year-old’s leadership skills and also his willingness to play in a favoured position: "If Carlos isn’t playing he’s the captain and what I’ve really liked about him is that right-back isn’t his slot but he’s gone and played there and played equally as well as he was at centre-half without any complaints. It’s for the team, it’s a good attitude.”
In addition to Smith, young right-back Elliott Hewitt is the only other member of the senior squad away on international duty at present.
Hewitt looks set to win his ninth Wales U21 cap when Geraint Williams’s men take on Lithuania at the Book People Stadium in Bangor today, then will be out to avenge their shock recent defeat to San Marino on Tuesday at the same venue.