SA must utilise Smal’s experience

The Gert Smal era as Stormers coach will end when the Cape team clash with the Bulls at Loftus on Saturday – but that should not be his final involvement with what will next year become the South African Super 14 challenge.

Smal makes a good point when he argues that the experience he has picked up in four years as coach should not be wasted. Experience is a very rare thing among the top rung of South African rugby coaches, and while Smal did make mistakes along the way, my one problem with the clamour in Cape Town to have him replaced was always that there never seemed to be an obvious replacement.

The Cats have arguably been let down this season not by their coach lacking ability, but by his lack of experience at Super 12 level. This was definitely the case at the Sharks, and the Bulls have come right this year mainly because Heyneke Meyer was given the opportunity to learn from the mistakes he made when he last had a shot at Super 12 rugby three years ago.

Smal’s problem has not been lack of experience. He has been criticised for not being bold enough. Certainly it would have been great to see him think outside of the box much earlier in the competition and try Jean de Villiers at flyhalf.

It was obvious to most critics that one of the big Stormers problems was in the pivot position. Gaffie du Toit kicks well out of hand but does not engage opposing defences enough to really bring De Wet Barry and Marius Joubert properly into play like Jaco van der Westhuyzen did for the Springboks in last year’s Tri-Nations.

Chris Rossouw, after almost a year on the sidelines, was also never going to be the answer. He had failed before this season to make the step up to Super 12 level from Currie Cup and there was no reason why 2005 was suddenly going to be his year.

Many have publicly ridiculed the suggestion that De Villiers should be tried at flyhalf, but let’s not forget that Jake White was prepared to play him there against Ireland in Dublin last year. And Nick Mallett, in an interview I did with him earlier in the year, said he thought the experiment would work.

It is also interesting to note that in this week’s Superwrap, compiled by the staff of Superrugby but with no input from me as I am based in Cape Town and not in the Johannesburg office, acknowledgement is made that De Villiers’ best position is inside centre. If he can play inside centre, he can probably play flyhalf (ask Daniel Carter, Aaron Mauger and Mike Catt if you disagree).

Anyway, I am digressing here. The point is that my biggest disappointment with Smal this season was his refusal to be inventive, something which might be necessary if the Stormers are to be taken to the next level and actually win the tournament.

Much of the rest that went wrong for the Stormers this year was not of his doing at all. I know there are many who argue that too much is made of player burnout, but Professor Tim Noakes and his team at the Sports Sciences Institute believe the players who make up the Springbok squad are made to carry too heavy a load.

And as they are scientists and don’t come to this conclusion after a night in the pub, but as the result of extensive and exhaustive study, I am inclined to go along with them rather than the armchair brigade who think players are getting soft if they think it is too much to expect them to play competitively for 11 months of the year.

The Stormers have the most players who were Springboks last year, the most players who have been on the treadmill since last February. And before you counter this argument by pointing out that the New Zealanders have the same commitments and still manage to perform, let’s not forget that the All Blacks were withdrawn from the NPC last year.

That meant that when they got to the end of year tour, most of the players in the All Black squad had had at best a limited involvement in the senior provincial competition. Western Province coach Carel du Plessis tried his best to help the Springbok coach by resting players in the Currie Cup, but it was never for more than a week at a time.

Neither did the Bok management help their cause during the overseas tour. The All Blacks only fielded their first choice team when they hammered France. The Boks, because they were chasing the Grand Slam, put the first choice team into the field on three consecutive Saturdays. Their best games of the November tour were the ones where the "rested" players started.

As for Australia, we know that their players get ample time to rest after the Tri-Nations as there is no big provincial tournament in that country.

There is another reason why the Stormers might have failed this season, but which they will never admit: Last year they were all playing for national contracts, this year they know they have national contracts. They also keep reading in the papers that they will probably still be selected by the Bok coach even if during the Super 12 they just lie down on the floor and let the opposition run right over them (which is pretty much what they did do against the Crusaders).

And there are still other reasons beyond those. One might be the attitude prevalent in the squad in the early stages that “class will get us through”, which was perhaps a result of last year’s Tri-Nations success coming a little early for these young players and leaving them believing they had done it all when really they still have it all to do.

To combat that, maybe they needed another year of Corne Krige as captain, while Selborne Boome was also missed for his leadership.

All of this adds up to one thing – Smal had a number of factors beyond his control that he had to contend with. It is a fact that his last match in charge before the start of this season was a Super 12 semi-final. That means he cannot be a bad coach.

Perhaps now is a good time for him to step down. Four years is a long time to be in charge of the same team at this level, and both the team and the coach may need the rejuvenation which comes with change.

But there is no more experienced Super 12 coach in South Africa than Smal, and while he is right in saying that his duties as Springbok assistant coach create a clash in responsibilities, he is also right in saying that the Super 14 coaches next year could do with having someone with experience they can use as a sounding board.

And for that job, there is no-one better qualified than himself.