Six forwards who can light up today’s action
Philosophical coach who missed out on Springboks’ World Cup glory says it was not meant to be as his new charges take on England
Franco Smith chuckles when it is pointed out to him that he could have spent this weekend celebrating the first anniversary of South Africa Africa’s s World Cup triumph over England as part of Rassie Erasmus’s coaching staff, rather than girding Italian loins to take on England in Rome. It is a mission that carries with it as much prospect of success as those poor souls who, long ago, headed out to face the lions in the Colosseum.
Smith, a long-term coaching colleague of Erasmus, initially with the Cheetahs before coming into the Springbok management group two years ago, had decided to leave the Boks to be close to his schoolattending family in Bloemfontein rather than move to Cape Town to be alongside Erasmus.
The Italy job only came on the horizon before last year’s World Cup, with Smith succeeding Irish legend Conor O’shea in the top coaching role after the tournament.
“Yes, quite a few friends have mentioned that I could have been part of that Springbok success and we’ve had a few laughs about the way things turned out,” said Smith from the Italian training camp at the Olympic centre of Giulio Onesti, in Rome. “As a Christian, I believe things happen for a reason and I was delighted to get this chance to be involved in international rugby.
“My coaching philosophy has always revolved around trying to make a difference, getting 120 per cent out of a player’s ability, getting them to reach beyond themselves.
“That is exactly what we have e to do again against England on Saturday,” ” he said. “Of course it is an enormous ous test and has long been so. Italian lian players d don’t grow up in the same ame rugby environment as many other countries, where aggression and physicality on the field are second nature. That is what we have to develop and try to nurture those traits from a very young age. It is a huge challenge, but we are not intimidated by it.”
Smith, 48, was an unheralded candidate to take over from O’shea in that he does not have the profile of many of those who have been appointed to grapple with the taxing role of making the Azzurri victorious against Europe’s best in the Six Nations.
Before O’shea, the likes of ex-all Black John Kirwan and former Springbok Nick Mallett had taken on the onerous responsibility. Yet, of all of them, Smith is perhaps best suited to the job in that he has a
long-standing empathy with the country, having first spent six months playing there as a teenager in 1994 before two more lengthy stints, first as a player and then as a coach at Benetton Treviso.
Smith, a half-back or centre who won nine caps for the Springboks in the 1990s, is wholly in tune with the needs of the Azzurri as well as being g well versed in the often factional onal political backdrop of Italian rugby. by.
O’shea was due to move upstairs airs and take on a director of rugby role only to accept an offer to return n to England, where he has responsibilibility for elite performance at the RFU.
Smith i s determ determined to stay tay focused on the short short-term needs s of the Azzurri. “It has t to be about onfield performances first and foreoremost as they need too to improve,”” improve,” he said candidly, all too aware that it is impossible to sugar- coat Italy’s record in the Six Nations Championship, that has not included a win in 26 Tests stretching back to 2015.
“Of course we know our reality, but even though the mountain top looms above you, you cannot be daunted by the task of trying to find a way y up that steep hill. That is one reason we have picked some young guys, like fly-half Paolo Garbisi, who do not have the baggage of the past.
“You have to find a way to compete, to be strong in the fundamentals, but also not to be afraid to think outside the box. That has so often been my experience, with Rassie and [current Springbok head coach] Jacques Nienaber, at the Cheetahs.
“The only players who came to us were those who couldn’t get contracts elsewhere. It was the same thing at Benetton Treviso, where you competed in Europe against the big, well-resourced sides. You have to punch above your weight. That is what we must do with Italy.”
Smith will bring all his talents to bear on the task, from his deeprootedrooted rooted rugby knowledge picked up ata at his grandfather’s knee in the diamondm mond mining town of Lichtenburg throught through to representative rugby on o the parched fields of the former Free State and on to his travels in Italy.
“I’m a part-time historian, so I love to know about other lands and cultures,” said Smith, a committed Christian who is much given to retweeting the thoughts of American pastor Joel Osteen.
“The tree started growing for me on that first six-month trip to Italy. y I do have my Christian beliefs, although I don’t look to impose them on people, but I do think it is right to try to i nfluence in good ways if life gives you that platform.”
Smith insists that his project is to develop a 40 to 45-man squad who can take Italy through to the 2023 World Cup, “to shed the burden of the past and to earn the respect of the rugby world”.
It is a daunting prospect to face title-chasing England at the Stadio Olimpico only seven days after conceding 50 points to Ireland in Dublin.
“We have to be realistic in our objectives and focus on technical improvements in particular, in contact, at the line-out and in our line speed,” Smith said.
“You “You could argue that it is not a bad thi thing to blood young guys without the pressure of fans in the stadium, but we would all rather that the cro crowds were there with all their passion passion.
“Th The Stadio Olimpico, with its runnin running track as well, will be like playinng playing in the middle of nowhere. But thaat that is all part of the challenge. It is up too to us to embrace and create our own mmemories.” memories.”
‘You have to find a way to compete and be strong, but not be afraid to think outside the box’