New man Gert is Smal by name, not by reputation

IT WAS quite a coup for Declan Kidney during his summer recruitment drive to land the services of 2007 World Cup-winning forwards coach and former Springbok, Gert Smal.

Clearly Kidney sees in the 46-year-old someone with the necessary experience and expertise in his specialist coaching area, someone who can add more bite to the Ireland pack.

But the Corkman — himself a reluctant sports psychologist — will be keen to tap into the Capetonian’s winning mentality especially when faced with southern hemisphere opposition.

Having joined Jake White’s coaching ticket in 2004, Smal helped mastermind four victories from nine meetings over Graham Henry’s so-called Invincibles. When the All Blacks fly into Ireland to begin their preparations for the sell-out clash against Ireland at Croke Park on November 15, Smal’s expertise will be very welcome.

Though very much focused on his first test match against Canada in Thomond Park next weekend, Smal did offer a few secrets of the mind that help when facing the men in black.

“You must believe it, you must dream it, you must see it, you must feel it,” he says, “and you must see yourself growing as an individual as well.

“It doesn’t matter against what opposition you play, you see yourself growing above the opposition. You should not be in awe in somebody: you respect him for who he is, but you don’t live in awe of somebody else.

“That’s the way we approach it (in South Africa). You have to give yourself the best chance. You have to be confident and you have to be confident in what you are doing and you have to go and take your game to them.”

He may Smal in name but certainly not in stature, the giant former Western Province and flanker wears XXL shirts. A genial man, he admits to enjoying life in Ireland. And as someone who understands the European experience having played and coached Rovigo in Italy between 1986 and 1990, coming north of the equator to work a second time was always part of his career plans.

“I always wanted to move abroad to do coaching. I played in Italy, so it’s not a new concept to me. And also it’s an opportunity for me and for my family. I’ve got a boy and girl and I wanted them to experience life outside South Africa.

“Firstly, I want to say I’m a proud South African, I’m not running away from my country. I always wanted to come and coach overseas. When I played overseas it meant a lot to me as an individual, and I want my kids to experience that over and above the opportunity it gives me.”

As a player his career came to halt on a Western Province tour of Australia in 1993 when his face met the head of a Queensland scrum-half, an incident that affected the sight in his right eye. He turned out for the Springboks on three occasions but that small number can be attributed to South Africa’s exclusion from international rugby between 1982 and 1992. The eye injury also meant he missed out on representing his country at the 1995 World Cup.

However, as assistant to White since 2004, he helped turn the Springbok pack into the most potent and feared in world rugby, culminating in World Cup success last year.

Smal says the Irish pack measures up physically compared to his Springbok forwards.

“There’s nothing less the Boks have that Ireland don’t have. They’ve (Ireland) got the skill and the physique. It’ll be nice to see how they handle it in a game situation and in a pressure situation.

“Obviously at the moment you just get the team well organised. Once you get to your first game, slowly but surely you’ll start adjusting techniques. Once teams start throwing certain things at you, you have to adapt to it. Once I see them in that pressure situation, then I’ll start making adjustments.

“There’s also a huge amount of intellectual capital in this Ireland team. It’s not a young team I’m coaching, but an experienced team. So I’ve got some ideas, they’ve got some ideas, we try to marry it and see what’s best for the team. It works very well and I’m very excited about it.”

So far and no surprise then that it’s a happy Irish coaching camp, a hotch-potch of Irish, Australian and South African voices making it “an excellent environment”.

“There are going to be times when we’re going to challenge each other and I think that’s healthy as long as it’s done in a respectful way. That’s how you stimulate each other as well — you don’t want to be a puppet and agree with everything, so I think it’s important that we compliment, stimulate and challenge each other when it’s necessary.”