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The science experiment behind Wayne Smith's winning schedule

Wayne Smith celebrates Black Ferns' World Cup victory. Photo by Hannah Peters - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images

Wayne Smith earned the nickname “The Professor” over his years in the All Blacks environment for his astute understanding of the game, the extent of his attention to detail has been further revealed in a recent interview.

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In a sit down with ex-All Black Jeff Wilson, Smith humbly accepted the award of ASB New Zealand Coach of the Year and discussed his approach with the Black Ferns, including a scientific understanding of how to schedule weeks during the World Cup to have his players in peak condition come game day.

While Smith initially joined the Black Ferns coaching staff in more of a mentorship role in early 2022, a review of the team exposed the leadership as unfit and before he knew it, The Professor had assumed the top job.

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“I saw it as an adventure,” Smith said of the promotion. “Every coaching experience you have is different but it’s always an adventure, it’s never the same.

“You know I’ve been to a few world cups with the All Blacks obviously, they were high-pressure environments. I was really keen on this one to change that and make it fun.

“Some of it was embedded in some work we did with the All Blacks years ago around hormonal balance needed to be at your best for the game, we did a lot of spitting into vials and there was scientists doing the research but essentially what I found out was early in the week you need to have a lot of laughter, get rid of the cortisol and enhance your recovery, and at the end of the week that’s when you build the testosterone to be great on the weekend.

“So, we looked at a program where up until Tuesday night we had a lot of fun, had a lot of excitement, a lot of innovation. We had club nights on a Tuesday night, we had a club captain, we didn’t have a lot of resource so we went and bought a blazer for her down at the op shop, got some pins on it and she ran it like a club night and it sort of spilled over into our game, where everyone saw it as a bit of an adventure and exciting to play this game.

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“We weren’t perfect at it, particularly early on but you could see the attacking intent and the courage to have a crack, even from our own goal line, if it was on, it was on and we just played and we backed our skills and so from that point of view, I would say it’s probably one of the best projects of my life, the most exciting anyway.”

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Speculation about Smith’s coaching future continues to murmur. He’ll head to Japan in January to work with Kolbe’s coaching team briefly before he and Sir Graham Henry fly to Tonga to deliver rugby equipment donated by the Chiefs and Auckland Rugby, in the hope of lifting the morale following the volcanic eruption and tsunami.

A head coaching role is off the table in Smith’s mind but he is leaving the door open to an assistant role, saying a position similar to the one Sir Graham Henry filled for the Black Ferns at the World Cup could suit him nicely.

In the ten months that Smith led the Black Ferns team, the improvements were dramatic. While the coach admitted he wasn’t sure how the team would respond to his vision for how they were going to play, in the end, he realised he’d found the winning recipe.

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“We became a professional team, it happened through the campaign, we became a high-quality, high-performance team, we started to look like one. So it was probably an evolution rather than a revolution, the revolution was the type of game we were going to play, the evolution was people buying into it and then producing a great output in their areas so that was really good to see.”

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JW 57 minutes ago
Scott Robertson explains the new halves pairing for the All Blacks ahead of France

More indecision and excuses from Razor.


You've given a spot at 6 to Finau whom you haven't even had the courage to use off the bench in the last two games. Now the young enforcer is going into a big much with no rugby, we should expect a similar result to how Aumua struggled to impact a game after he'd hardly been given any chances of the bench either.


Weve now dropped a back three player who also wasn't even given any game time off the bench for someone coming in cold when they really need to have been playing constantly to perform at their best. There are just so many better pictures that should have been present rather than this mickey mouse selection.


I really hope Finau can overcome this, it won't be the first time he's had to. How is the bench even made up? Could you not just have included these changes in the article as well? I actually like BB coming back in, it highlights how courageous he is after sitting out through another concussion that could just as easily sent him back into months of symptoms again.


Dmac was also off his game last week, as was Ratima, with the poor platform Razor and his team have been setting the players up with. He needs to freedom to clear his mind from the clutter that saw him make so many bad decisions last week. It will still probably be a net loss for the team performance not having him on from the start but it should be better for them in the long run if he's allowed to just come on late and play his game trying to claw things back for the team.


With Roigard starting that might prove an outlet for the team to actually get on top first however. Along with Ardie busting a gut in his new role and emptying the tank by halftime, and being replaced by another new star, might mean that Dmac is just icing on the cake at the end.

13 Go to comments
F
Flankly 1 hour ago
Jake White: If I was England coach, I’d have been livid

I am not an England fan, but still very disappointed at what Borthwick is serving up. Regardless of winning or losing, they should be executing the basics at a world class level. That was the reason they replaced Eddie with Steve. After two years England has not built the solid foundations that the RFU were presumably after. Its hard to see it as anything other than a coaching problem.


Having said that I really hope that Rassie has got his team fired up for the game. The Boks at maximum intensity and with no crises (eg red cards) would be expected to win this game. But it does not take much reduction in pressure for Bok teams to lose. The Boks lose when complacency sets in.


On Felix Jones, my guess is that they can't agree on a non-compete so they kept him on payroll for the duration of the Nov tests. The risk was that he would be hired by Rassie or Razor prior to the tests.


As relates to law tweaking, it feels like WR are more comfortable discussing changes in laws than insisting on implementation. For my money the biggest thing they could do is to be strict and consistent in officiating ruck behavior. In every game we see flopping, lazy lying, clearing of unbound players, making plays while off your feet, delays in placing the ball, side entry, offside line infringements, and similar nonsense. It's really really bad, and the WR attitude seems to be that we should turn a blind eye in pursuit of "flowing rugby". In truth it's just boring, because it randomizes the outcome.

11 Go to comments
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