Tuesday, February 02, 2010
AS A KID in South Africa he knew the names. Lansdowne Road.
Ollie Campbell. Fittingly for a future Springbok flanker, Fergus Slattery. But Lansdowne Road, the arena, was a constant.
Now based in Dublin as Ireland forwards coach, Gert Smal’s home address shouldn’t come as a surprise.
"Yeah, I’m living on Lansdowne Road," says Smal. "It’s exciting to see the stadium so close to being finished. I was told you could see one small part of the old field from the house, but that’s not the case any more."
Smal has settled well in Ireland. He went to the All-Ireland football final last year ("Some Kerry supporters got me a ticket," he says, before adding he had "no allegiances," mindful, maybe, of having a boss from Cork). The move has been a success.
"I don’t regret one moment," he says. "Everything just happened and fell into place – it was meant to be. Obviously the family is a big consideration, moving from one country to another, but it was always something that I wanted to do, and I’d prepared my kids for that happening.
"I had to do it now, or I’d have been too old, and the time was right. My wife was quite keen to do it as well, and we’re very happy. Of course, winning makes everything right.
"I’ve been very blessed in the last couple of years to work with so many talented players, with the Springboks and with Ireland. There’s a fantastic environment with players, but also with our management team, and there’s huge credit due to Declan (Kidney) for that. We have very experienced people working with us."
Crucially, the big South African had heard good reports about Ireland from someone who knew the men in green jerseys well.
"I remember when we were preparing for the World Cup in 2007 with South Africa, Clive Woodward spoke to us and praised the Irish system of central contracts for players. He was saying that it helped to manage players better and that it was a system he’d like to work with."
Having worked in both the Six Nations and the Tri-Nations, Smal makes one significant comparison between the two international tournaments when it comes to support.
"I don’t know if people realise it, but the fact that you can get to games so easily, in England and Wales and so on, means you have a lot of support, which raises the intensity even for away games. It doesn’t really work like that in South Africa, in the Tri-Nations and the Super 14, where you really only have local support. The Six Nations is very different. Winning every battle is an achievement.
"You work hard and sometimes you deserve some luck. You need that also, and we were very fortunate to win the Triple Crown, the Championship – and the Grand Slam. It would have been a huge disappointment if we hadn’t won the Grand Slam."
So if Stephen Jones had found another few metres with that kick for Wales in Cardiff, Smal would have regarded the entire season as a disappointment?
"That’s exactly how I feel. It would have been a massive disappointment because we were so close, but that’s how tight the margins are. Sometimes the margins make you a good player, sometimes they don’t. A lot of things have to work for you – the referee must be on song with crucial decisions, the team must play well, the kicker must be on form – you don’t have control over all those things.
"After a tournament, or a series of games, we do a recap or review, and after the Six Nations we asked ourselves: how would we have felt if that Jones kick had gone over? That gives you a completely different perspective as a coach, because it shows you what has to be done to improve the team, to become one of the best in the world."
Ireland played the best in the world last November.
When South Africa won the World Cup in 2007 Gert Smal was in their corner, and he describes last autumn’s game as emotional.
"It wasn’t that long before coming to Ireland that I’d been working with the Springboks, it had been only six months. Obviously when you’re with a team for a long time you get attached to some of the players, and it was quite emotional, the game.
"But it’s a professional game, and you’re with the team you’re working for, that’s your livelihood. So it was a bit emotional during the anthems, but after that it was back to business, and believe me, I wanted to beat South Africa more than any Irish man did."
Ireland were praised for their effort up front that evening, but ever the coach, Smal sees room for improvement.
"The line-out worked pretty well in that game, but there are other areas, like the scrum, which are huge opportunities for improvement. That’s what we’re working hard on at the moment."
Does he take criticism of the scrum personally?
"No, I think some of that goes back even before my time. In general I don’t think the Irish attack enough in scrums.
"That might be something to have a look at, but I don’t want to give away too many tactics. We’ll have to change the mindset. We were fairly okay in the Six Nations, but if there’s an area where we can improve, it’s in scrummaging."
Italy are first up for Ireland next Saturday at Croke Park. "That goes back to an earlier point, about us going in as champions. We have to go and win it again. Italy will obviously look at us, at places they want to attack, but we’ll have to take it game by game, prepare as well as we can.
"We will have to play better than we did last year if we want to win back-to-back Grand Slams. And there are other issues. For instance, we didn’t have many injuries last year, and I think that maybe our depth could be tested in that area this year more than in the past. That’s not a bad thing either, as we need to build our depth as we come towards a World Cup. We can’t just play with 15 players, we need depth, and that’s what we’re trying to build at the moment."
When it comes to the very recent past, Smal says the benefits of a good showing by the provinces in the Heineken Cup are plainly visible in the Irish camp.
"You can see it. What also helps is that they didn’t have easy games – Munster, Leinster, Ulster, they all had tough games. Obviously it’s good to have two teams in the quarters, and Connacht doing so well also, because it means the players come to camp positive and confident.
"There’s a fine line, because you don’t want players to come in over-confident, but there’s a good feeling in the camp, and I love the work ethic. They come to camp and they’re here to work and to learn."
If so, they’re with the right man.
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