Smith joins coaching ranks at Pau
Former All Black Conrad Smith has turned his expertise to coaching, just seven weeks after retiring from rugby.
Smith has joined the coaching staff of his former French club Pau, where former All Blacks Colin Slade, Tom Taylor, Frank Halai, Jamie Mackintosh and Benson Stanley are playing.
Smith played 94 tests at centre for the All Blacks, 43 games for Wellington, 126 games for the Hurricanes and
52 for Pau.
It was reported
Smith would be will be using his
French to get the message across.
‘‘I want to coach in
French. It is necessary to do that. It is important to me to speak the local language. We are a French club and I want to speak French,’’ he said.
Smith told French rugby newspaper Midi Olympique that as soon as he had played his last game he cut off the weight training but was still running because he enjoyed that.
‘‘I always like to run and even if I stop the rugby I am still very active,’’ he said.
Club coach, and former All Black, Simon Mannix said while the club would lose a player they would welcome his contribution to the coaching panel which also includes Smith’s 2007 World Cup team-mate Carl Hayman.
‘‘His strictness and his knowledge of the game would help our young players,’’ Mannix said.