Cheetahs still playing 'catch-up'
The Cheetahs mentor feels his team is about six to sevens months behind in terms of where they need to be for the 2016 Super Rugby season.
That is why he is focusing on his own team, rather that the opposition at this stage.
Smith, who took over from Naka Drotské in the final weeks of the 2015 Super Rugby season, is adamant that results are meaningless and fine-tuning his team is premium in these pre-season games.
The Cheetahs came away with a 28-10 win over the Bulls in their first warm-up match in Harare last week, but even that result Smith said is not as important as getting his team up to speed.
"We set out specific goals for these two warm-up matches and they are nothing more – everybody see it as such," Smith told rugby365 after his team returned from Harare.
"It is pleasing when you see some of the hard work come to fruition," he said of last week's outing, adding: "I wanted to see what depth we have and give the guys time to get used to our systems.
"It has absolutely nothing to do with results. We realise the Bull had other motives for their time in Zimbabwe."
Speaking about Friday's encounter with the Southern Kings, who themselves are playing catch-up after a very belated start to their pre-season, Smith said the focus would be on areas that need improvement.
"We saw some good stuff around our defence and scrums," he said.
"However, it is only the start. We are now where we should have been six, seven months ago.
"We need to get confidence in the systems, while our defence and scrums are aspects we are [still] concerned about, as they are important aspects.
"Those are aspects will never stop working on, as there is plenty of room for improvements."
He said can't afford a "once-off performance" and that consistency is going to be vital.
"In these warm-up games I focus only on what we must do," he told rugby365, adding: "The result is not important and it is important to do what you say.
"We have 15 changes to the team [from last week], 15 different players who get a chance to play.
"What is important is what we can bring to the game."
He also felt they played some good rugby against the Bulls.
"Obviously we want to play our style, and enforce our game.
"The game [in Harare] had good momentum till the thunderstorm erupted, which made it difficult to play like we wanted to.
"The fact that we, despite the rain, still manage to retain the ball and build pressure was a big compliment.
"However, the plan is to continue with the pattern we always employ."
By Jan de Koning
@King365ed
@rugby365com
