The rise of General Franco

 

Having played for the Free State university himself as a student before going on to represent the Springboks as a utility back under Nick Mallett, he first made an impression as a coach in Europe at Italian side Treviso.

 

He was at the Pro12 outfit from 2007 to 2013, starting out in the unfamiliar role of forwards coach and going on to take over as head coach, gaining valuable experience in the European Cup.

 

After returning to South Africa last year he took up a role with the Cheetahs as assistant to Rory Duncan in the Currie Cup and took on the challenge of coaching the Shimlas towards the end of the year.

 

In his first season in charge he took the Shimlas from fifth-placed also-rans who had never played in a final to champions who did not lose a single game.

 

Having gone unbeaten through the round robin phase of the tournament, the Shimlas saw off defending champions UCT in their semifinal before handing old rivals NWU-Pukke a 63-33 defeat in their home final.

 

Smith tried to apply what he learned as a coach in Europe and combine that with the natural talent available to him at the Shimlas, working with as big a squad as possible to increase their depth.

 

"I have some experience in the northern hemsiphere and in the southern hemisphere in Super Rugby when I was involved in that so I think that the guys really embraced that and bought into it.

 

"We kept the squad as big as we could, obviously injuries cut it down a bit but we tried to keep it the same environment the whole year and I really wanted the player who weren't starting to keep on progressing and keep working towards a bigger plan," he explained.

 

He believes that the key to their success this year was staying grounded and working hard without getting ahead of themselves once they got on a winning roll.

 

"I said from the beginning of the year that we would take it one game at a time, and I think that we got so used to focusing on the next task at hand that after the final I had hardly realised that we had won it because I was thinking ahead to the next thing," he said.

 

He has also had good support from a large group of assistants including the likes of forwards coach Hendro Scholtz and former Shimlas mentor Jaco Swanepoel, and with the Young Guns and Koshuis teams also making the finals of their respective tournaments there is much to be excited about in Bloemfontein.

 

"The vibe that has been around even started last year with the Young Guns winning the final, I think there is an environment here that we want to make a change and make a difference.

 

"I speak to the Vishuis coaches and the Young Guns guys all the time and it is about attitude. I think Bloemfontein guys and the Kovsies have a great attitude towards rugby, the way they train and make themselves available and their humbleness which has helped a lot with the success of all these teams," he commented.

 

Smith will continue coaching Shimlas and will serve as assistant coach for the Cheetahs team in the Currie Cup once again, but there may well be even bigger things for him on the horizon soon enough.