Smal favourite for Bok job!

profitius

It would be a blow for Ireland if he went.

Gert Smal has overtaken Allister Coetzee as the favourite to become the new Springbok coach in 2012, according to a top-level source in South African rugby.

The source told the Cape Times last night that Smal now has the support of the majority of the South African Rugby Union’s Executive Council, who are facilitating the process to appoint the new Bok coach. The Exco will make a final recommendation to the Saru General Council on January 26 next year, and the General Council will vote on the matter the next day.

The source confirmed that the change in thinking in the upper echelons of Saru came about due to Smal’s record with regards to transformation, and his success as a head coach with Western Province and the Stormers in the past, as well as with the Springboks and Ireland as a forwards coach.

As head coach of WP, Smal engineered two successive Currie Cup title victories in 2000 and 2001, while also guiding the Stormers to a Super 12 semi-final under the captaincy of Corné Krige in 2004. In turn, the lack of titles in his CV is believed to have hampered Coetzee’s chances of getting the Bok nod, despite leading the Stormers and WP to Super Rugby and Currie Cup finals in recent seasons.

Smal also played a big part in reinvigorating the Springbok forward pack during the Jake White era, and is highly respected in Ireland as an expert on forward play, resulting in an extension of his contract in July this year for another 18 months.

But it is Smal’s willingness to pick players of colour that appears to have ultimately swayed the minds of the Saru bosses. He was prepared to trust players of colour during his stint in the Cape, selecting the likes of Breyton Paulse, Quinton Davids, Bolla Conradie, Eddie Andrews and Egon Seconds as relative youngsters in the WP and Stormers teams.

It is unclear if Saru are going to pay out the Irish Rugby Union for Smal’s contract or if he will be released.

Those details will be sorted out in the coming weeks, ahead of the announcement of the new Springbok coach on Friday, January 27. - Cape Times

http://www.iol.co.za/sport/rugby/springboks/smal-favourite-for-bok-job-1.1198413?showComments=true

clsmooth

Maybe Kidney will emerge as a dark horse for it :eek:

Sport101

clsmooth wrote: »

Maybe Kidney will emerge as a dark horse for it :eek:

Wishful thinking.

bleg

Steady Eddie would be great there. Following on from PdV.

thomond2006

Tony McGahan ftw.

tolosenc

I think Declan Kidney should do it. Really. It's a great opportunity for him.

Sport101

I'll get cracking on the cover letter.

chupacabra

But it is Smal’s willingness to pick players of colour that appears to have ultimately swayed the minds of the Saru bosses.

sigh...

kerrysdad

Ireland's loss would be Bok's gain.
Smal's influence in Ireland's performances over the last few years cannot be underestimated.
It will be difficult to replace him with somebody of the same quality and intellect

padser

tolosenc wrote: »

I think Declan Kidney should do it. Really. It's a great opportunity for him.

And indeed for Ireland.

Seems like a win win situation

MungBean

chupacabra wrote: »

sigh...

Must update my CV to point out I'm not a racist too. Could be the defining factor in me getting a job.

Sport101

But would you be happy to pick a black/coloured player of inferior skill when there is a clear alternative who is a better player, but white, for the greater good of the country, knowing that you are damaging your team in the short term?

MungBean

Sport101 wrote: »

But would you be happy to pick a black/coloured player of inferior skill when there is a clear alternative who is a better player, but white, for the greater good of the country, knowing that you are damaging your team in the short term?

Did Smal damage the team by picking inferior players ? I was just commenting on the fact that whatever he did it was proof he's not racist which seems to be a big deal in South Africa.

Personally I would be against picking anyone for a position based on anything other than them being the best player for the position. But as we can see from the reaction Kidney gets people will not always agree on who's the best players. And short term damage is quite common. As can be argued by anyone in response to any coach for picking any player who has competition when the team doesnt do well.

Sport101

I'm not sure Kidney has ever been forced to select players for the national team for the greater good of the nation or to improve social integration and participation in what has always been a white dominated sport in South Africa ( although a friend of mine has a theory that Paddy Wallace's continued selection was one of the terms of the Good Friday Agreement!).

In terms of the article, I think the 90% non white population of the country will be happy to read that a potential new white coach is not racist, they are not that long out of apartheid after all.

ambid

As the IRFU didn't replace Gaffney, I wonder if they'll try to not replace Smal too by seeing if Foley or Gibbs (or both) could double job a national and provincial role? I imagine the union is under financial pressure in the recession, just like almost every other organisation in Ireland.

kennedmc

kerrysdad wrote: »

Ireland's loss would be Bok's gain.
Smal's influence in Ireland's performances over the last few years cannot be underestimated.
It will be difficult to replace him with somebody of the same quality and intellect

am I missing something here? Have our forwards really been that good since he joined? THe 8 where fantastic against England earlier this year and Austrialia in the WC.

It can be really difficult to gauge the impact of assistants the "Brian Kidd" effect if you will.
Genuine question what do people feel Smal has contributed to this Irish team?

MungBean

kennedmc wrote: »

am I missing something here? Have our forwards really been that good since he joined? THe 8 where fantastic against England earlier this year and Austrialia in the WC.

It can be really difficult to gauge the impact of assistants the "Brian Kidd" effect if you will.
Genuine question what do people feel Smal has contributed to this Irish team?

I'd imagine he's contributed just as much as any other coach which is probably scant little when you break it down. Hard to know as the big performances against England and Aussies were the only 2/3 decent games we had out of a very poor year.

I dont think any coach has done much to be honest. Lineout went to hell, scrum improved to average, attack disappeared completely, defence was probably on par with previous years (solid enough but with weak links).

I'd say if you were to look at every game from last year in one sitting you'd be hard pushed to pick out any patterns of play. The 6 nations was a mish mash of failed game styles and unbelievable amount of errors and ill discipline. World cup warm ups seemed to be a panicked attempt to throw away everything and start again with tighter basic play which also failed. And world cup again was at odds with everything done previous. The only thing I can say we achieved this year is implementing the choke tackle (which worked ok in a couple games) and beating Australia in the world cup.

Hard to know who contributed to what when you dont have much to show for whatever it is that they have done.

Sport101

He taught Paul O'Connell some Afrikaans!

kerrysdad

kennedmc wrote: »

am I missing something here? Have our forwards really been that good since he joined? THe 8 where fantastic against England earlier this year and Austrialia in the WC.

It can be really difficult to gauge the impact of assistants the "Brian Kidd" effect if you will.
Genuine question what do people feel Smal has contributed to this Irish team?

The Record Stands as so;
2008 played 3, 2 wins
2009 played 10, 9 wins, 1 draw
2010 played 11, 5 wins
2011 played 14, 8 wins

38 played,, 24 wins,1 draw, 13 losses.

Sport101

If you could dig up set piece stats (or breakdown stats at a push) over that time period you could probably do a decent analysis of forward play and progression over a time period. I think you'll find that the general win/loss ratio has more to do with the Declan Kidney effect than anything else.

kennedmc

Cheers lads interesting feedback there.

Just comparing to Leinster I really think we had a great pack over the last few years both in terms of technique at the set piece and physicality levels when needed. So you could big up Gibbs and Feek for that? They appear to be far more consistent then Ireland....

From memory the one thing I think has been really good in the Irish team over the last number of years is our defence.