'PRO14 - not Super Rugby - is best competition for South African teams to play in'
No sooner is Franco Smith on the phone from the 27°C Bloemfontein is he asking about Tuesday’s weather in Ireland. Participating in a rugby tournament that encompasses north and south hemispheres can offer climatic challenges, but the Cheetahs coach is taking everything about the fledgling experiment of South African sides in the PRO14 in his stride.
It sounds onerous preparing for an 18-night, three-match tour taking his team to Galway, Llanelli and Dublin. It’s their fourth of five trips this season across the equator, but Smith insists this schedule is preferable to the Super Rugby start awaiting this weekend’s travelling South African franchises.
The Sharks kick-off with a visit to Singapore, a six-hour jump ahead in time followed by a six-hour reverse back through time zones for a round two home match. Meanwhile, the Lions are headed in the opposition direction, going six hours back in time to Buenos Aires before retracing their steps across the South Atlantic to play in Cape Town in round two.
It was 2017 when Cheetahs were last on Super Rugby’s roster. Their week in Argentina, followed a few months later by a three-week tour the other way to New Zealand and Singapore, meant far less time overseas than in the PRO14 where they will be abroad for a total of nearly nine weeks this season.
@CheetahsRugby preparing for @PRO14Official tour to Ireland and Wales.
Sat, 16 Feb, 19:00 – @connachtrugby v Toyota Cheetahs
Sun, 24 Feb, 15:00 – @scarlets_rugby v Toyota Cheetahs
Fri, 1 Mar, 21:35 – @leinsterrugby v Toyota Cheetahs
SA kick-off times, live on @SuperSportTV pic.twitter.com/8YP4cj76QC— Toyota Cheetahs (@CheetahsRugby) February 7, 2019
But Smith’s preference is Europe as there is currently just a two-hour time difference between Bloemfontein and Ireland, and the overnight flight north doesn’t cause body clocks the upset that occurs when flying east or west.
“It’s much more difficult going forward and back in time. It takes four days to a week to give maximum performance on the field. The amount of time you gain and lose is immense. That has an effect on sleeping patterns and you have got to adapt a bit better after long hours on a flight.
“When you go north, it’s just an overnight flight. You’re quickly recovered and feel better, so there’s no real effect training-wise. It’s definitely much easier travelling.”
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They are other benefits. Whereas byes are at a Super Rugby premium, four of Cheetahs’ five trips north this season are followed by a non-match week back at home. There’s also no rush getting up north in the first place.
Cheetahs have trained full-on at home in the early part of this week and only fly to Ireland on Wednesday night with a squad of 25, arriving in Dublin at 9am on Thursday. They then head to Galway by bus on Friday for Saturday’s late afternoon kick-off.
“We’re happy with the schedule. The way the trips are spread over the season is done really well. It gives us a chance to be good at home and also to travel at the right stages,” says Smith.
“It’s also more suitable to finish our training here at home Monday and Tuesday. We have more numbers to train against, can sleep in our own beds a couple of nights more, and it gives us a good chance to be well prepared for the first game of the tour,” he continues, adding the reason he hasn’t taken the full allowance of 27 players at the start of this latest trip is it affords positional room to manoeuvre if bumps and bruises mean call-ups are necessary next week.
? TICKET UPDATE ?
Fancy coming to the game Saturday? Here’s how the availability is looking ?
BUY ?? https://t.co/d6sqx3JE9T pic.twitter.com/aVKhUXd9ES
— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) February 12, 2019
“We do our checks and physically we have been fine. Our result at Munster at the beginning of the season wasn’t good (0-38), but we had a 41-minute ball-in-play match and they were only 12 points up until the 52nd minute. The score then went away from us, but it wasn’t due to fitness or recovery.
“The second time against Cardiff Blues we were leading towards the end 21-11 and although we lost, I can’t blame it on the physical part (of travel). We then beat Zebre the next time we did it [flew in late], so no regrets. There has been good reward for the way we travel.”
Rival franchise Southern Kings are embarking on a similar February schedule. Cork, Dublin and Cardiff are their destinations on what is also their fourth trip of five this season across the equator.
Travelling is second nature to Smith, who has thrown his lot in 100 per cent with Cheetahs this season after double-jobbing as Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks assistant. He was away for 130 days in 2017, but regular journeys don’t wear him down. “I’ve a special routine,” he says, adding the switch for Cheetahs from Super Rugby to PRO14 has provided fresh lease of life.
“There’s a real buzz about the team. Everyone is excited about going north. All the history and the extra tourism activities in the northern part of the world is a great attraction to the guys. There was different vibe going to New Zealand and Australia. For a bunch of young players that haven’t travelled much before, going north is a huge experience.”
Huge, too, is the calibre of rugby they are encountering in PRO14. Smith won’t say if other South African teams might join Cheetahs and Kings in the future. “That is a little bit out of my area, I can’t really comment.” But what he will say is the style of opposition is liberating.
“I’ve said it many times now, even to South Africans here, and I was even chatting to Rassie Erasmus last week about it – it [PRO14] is the best competition for South Africa to play in. It’s very Test-match related.
“The way the Welsh, Irish and Scottish sides are performing in world rugby, with all those players playing in this competition, it’s a very important, integral part of the success of European rugby. For us South Africans to be involved, it’s very good.
Super Rugby 2019 – WEEK 1#SuperRugby #SR2019 pic.twitter.com/wb5ig9TI1t
— Super Rugby Pacific (@SuperRugby) February 12, 2019
“Super Rugby is a little bit more liberal-minded, which is also good as it’s not negative, but there is basically no difference between Test match and northern hemisphere rugby, so it’s important for South African players to adapt to the very precise rugby, the very detailed rugby played up north.
“Super Rugby will now get a lot of attention in South Africa (as it starts again) but we won’t get less. We’ll get the same amount. The main thing is PRO14 is a very simple competition with a simple points system. It’s not as complicated as Super Rugby. A lot of people will keep interested and it’s great the tournaments will run alongside each other. A lot of people will compare and we will get a good comparison.”
Cheetahs are only halfway through their second PRO14 season and while there is some criticism of results, Smith says they can only improve.
There won’t be any clash next season with local Currie Cup fixtures. That will help their squad focus solely on PRO14. Patience, like what was shown to the Italian clubs when they first joined in 2010, would also be of long-term assistance to the credibility of the two South African teams.
“The Italians have slowly found their feet, but they now know what is required and the professionalism around their teams has grown,” says Smith, who was at the Treviso helm when they entered the league.
“They now have proper rugby programmes and if that is the route the South African teams will fill, I will be excited to see what can happen in the next couple of years… we’re a long way off the team we want to be, but there are some good signs.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments