All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith may be joining the coaching staff of the Chiefs after the World Cup, but he is adamant that he will not be using his influence to lure big-name players to Waikato.

The Chiefs are losing a number of quality backline players such as Stephen Donald, Mike Delany, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Mils Muliaina and Dwayne Sweeney who are all heading overseas, while it remains to be seen whether Tana Umaga (now 38) will be making another comeback from his most recent injury.

This has lead to plenty of speculation about All Blacks such as Ma'a Nonu, Sonny Bill Williams and Piri Weepu, who have not confirmed which team they will be playing for next season, being lured to Hamilton by Smith who will join new head coach Dave Rennie and forwards coach Tom Coventry next season.

However, Smith has made it clear that he was not a recruitment agent for the Chiefs, explaining that he believed that it would be unethical to exploit his position and added that he remains focused on his role with the All Blacks.

He told Fairfax Media: "Firstly and ethically I don't think I should because I have been involved with a lot of players. Secondly that's Dave's [Rennie] and Tom's [Coventry] role.

"The players will know I'm going there [to Waikato] and if that's a positive for them, then that's great, but I won't have an active part in recruitment," he added.

Smith played 17 Test matches for the All Blacks between 1980 and 1985 and got involved in coaching the New Zealand national team as early as 1998 when he was appointed as a technical advisor.

After guiding the Crusaders to consecutive Super Rugby titles in 1998 and 1999, he was appointed as head coach of the All Blacks in 2000/2001. He returned in 2003 as an assistant to Graham Henry and has been in that position ever since.

Considering his close involvement in the success of the All Blacks in recent years he believes that it would be unfair if he was to move overseas straight after the World Cup, which is why the prospect of being involved in coaching a Super Rugby team again was so attractive to him despite lucrative offers from outside New Zealand.

He explained: "I couldn't really see myself running off after the World Cup with All Blacks' gameplans under the arm and going to another country. That was a factor in the decision.

"This way I get to keep working in New Zealand in the game I love... I love coaching, I love the contest," said Smith.