New Free State coach has sights on success

SOME may say his philosophy amounts to nothing more than pie in the sky, but new Free State Currie Cup coach Franco Smith is determined to restore the team to its traditional free-running roots.

Smith was installed as the team’s new Currie Cup coach earlier this week and replaces Rory Duncan, who will take the job of director of rugby at the union.

Smith, a Springbok who played nine tests between 1997 and 1999, wants to reacquaint the players with the ball-in-hand approach that made Free State devilishly difficult opponents, particularly in the amateur era.

Detractors will point out that that approach only yielded them a solitary Currie Cup title, in 1976, before the uber pragmatist Rassie Erasmus restored them to the winner’s circle, albeit sans stylistic merit in the mid-noughties.

Having just returned from Europe, Smith was part of that coaching staff, so he should be able to find the middle ground.

“The major objective is for Free State to play a brand of rugby that people enjoy,” he said yesterday.

“You want to play winning rugby, attractive rugby and the kind of rugby that people can associate with.”

Saying it is one thing, but Smith believes he has the tools to back it up.

“To do that you have to equip the players. Often in professional rugby the pressure tends to swallow creativity but it will be my objective to get the players to play to their potential.

“The Cheetahs won the Currie Cup two years in a row when I was here and the stadium was full and it was wonderful.

“I owe it to everybody involved in Free State rugby. I want to make the players better players. That will be the main objective.”

His success with the Shimlas, where he this year coached them to the Varsity Cup crown, means nobody can accuse him of sacrificing substance over style. He can see the obvious benefits in continuity the Varsity Cup triumph will bring to Free State.

“The fact that the Shimlas did well is wonderful. It brings belief and we would want to take some of that energy forward.

“I think there are young guys who, with their enthusiasm and confidence, can play at a higher level. Over the last while there has been a lot of pressure on the senior players.

“With the senior guys set to go to the World Cup it is perhaps an opportunity to get younger guys involved.”

Smith would not highlight the shortcomings in the team, as it carries sensitivities that he can do without.

Talent retention, however, is a good place to start, as is maximising what you have got.