Cool Smal shrugs off Mallett’s blows

GERT SMAL and Nick Mallett’s careers have been intertwined for more than 30 years and Ireland’s forwards coach knows enough about the Italy boss to suggest his fellow South African will “do anything” to get his way on the rugby pitch.

Take yesterday’s post-match gambit after Italy had seen off the USA, when Mallett pointedly declared: “I know we have a better front row than Ireland’s.”

Or like inventing a story about French referee Romain Poite writing an apology to the Italian federation for the way he officiated the scrum in the 2010 Six Nations meeting between his side and Ireland, on the eve of the 2011 encounter last February in Rome. Poite was set to referee the fixture again and Mallett saw fit to increase the pressure on the match referee ahead of another collision between the two front rows.

Some would say it worked as the Irish scrum were penalised five times that afternoon at the Stadio Flaminio and Ireland escaped with a 13-11 win.

“That’s typical Nick,” Smal said yesterday when reminded of the incident, for which Mallett subsequently issued an apology.

“He’ll do anything. He’s quite outspoken. You’ll see him with his views when you speak to him. He speaks his mind. He will put pressure on where he can.”

That said, Smal believes his one-time Western Province back row partner is a “good guy”.

“He’s a very good coach. He’s very demanding. He knows what he wants, hard-headed.”

The same can be said of Italy’s pack which Smal believes will present a far greater challenge to his Irish forwards this Sunday in Dunedin than that posed by Tri-Nations champions Australia at Eden Park two weeks earlier.

“They gave the All Blacks a tough time (in 2008) and they’re three years further on. They’ve developed as a pack and they’ve a fair amount of weight behind them. That’s definitely one of the challenges lying ahead for us. I would say 70% of their game, they play a very simply structured game. They drive from lineouts because obviously they’ve got the size. And they’ve got the scrum. So they will try to put the pressure on and play in your half, either through penalties or maybe setting a maul up and then box-kick and try to put your wingers under pressure.

“They say they won’t go wide or they won’t go through the middle… they want to get in your half, then it’s big scrums and try to buy penalties that way, or come with drives and hope you go offside and then...” Smal said with a snap of his fingers, “pick it off, three-six-nine.

“If they can win that way, it’s a very low-risk game but very effective. It works for them. That’s obviously lineouts and scrums.”

Smal also points to a significant change of personnel only a coach would tend to notice.

“What they also did, they got one of the junior breakdown/defence coaches of the Stormers (Omar Mouneimne). It was in the beginning of this season, to help them out with defence and at the breakdown. So they’re much more effective there as well.

“They defend very much like the Stormers and the defence coach of the Stormers has also been appointed defence coach of the Springboks, so South Africa, Italy and the Stormers are defending very much he same way.”

Smal declined to elaborate as he didn’t “want to give too much away” but it is clear, he and defence coach Les Kiss are preparing for anything their Italian counterparts — and Nick Mallett — might throw at Ireland this weekend.