Author: Brian Smith
Brian Smith
Brian Smith is a rare breed who has both played and coached international rugby and doesn't mind telling it as he sees it. He's currently putting his Oxford degree to good use teaching Commerce and coaching rugby at the Scots College, Sydney.
The French national anthem (La Marseillaise) is a stirring call to arms where the French people are called upon to take up arms and march to protect their families. “Marchons, marchons” means “let’s march, let’s march”. I reckon Micheal Cheika and the Wallabies were singing the French anthem on the team bus on the way home from the Test match. They march on to Lansdowne Road where the Irish will be plotting their Grand Slam downfall. The win in Paris brings credit to the entire squad and their coaching staff. The boys certainly deserve to savour the moment and enjoy their…
Sitting up for the 1.30am kick off took me back to 1984, when as a Schoolboy our entire Brisbane State High School 1st XV sat up to watch the Wallabies complete their Grand Slam tour against Scotland at Murrayfield. Back then the Wallabies had a record win over the Scots (37 v 12) and they completed the Slam in fine style. Mark Ella capped things off scoring a try in every Test as he rewrote the art of support play. If the 1984 team won so easily why did the 2016 Wallabies make hard work of putting the Scots away?…
Analysis of the Wallabies Blitz Buster attacking play against Wales by former Wallaby and international coach Brian Smith
Brian Smith analyses the attack of both Australia and New Zealand in last night’s Bledisloe Cup test
Brian Smith shares the lessons in coaching he received from Rugby League legend coach Wayne Bennet and analyses how they can be applied to the All Blacks
Some time today the Wallabies will have a review and the usual format for this will be to focus on 3 key areas to Keep Doing and 3 key things To Fix Up
Every team has a nightmare performance at some point in their journey and last night was exactly that for this Wallaby squad and the Michael Cheika coaching team. From a coaching perspective this is when good coaches really earn their corn. Coaching is an easy gig when things are going well but it’s when your troops have been humiliated that your leadership qualities a genuinely tested. For the rest of the country Monday will roll around and we’ll all get caught up in our weekly routines. For Michael Cheika and his coaching team they have pick up the pieces and find a way to…
The decision to start with Owen Farrell and bring on George Ford at an unusually early time was a key to England’s victory. But was that just a brilliant ‘tactical decision’? Or was Eddie Jones tipped off? The hook Last week, I said that if I was picking the England team, I would start with Farrell at 10 and bring on Ford with 30 minutes to go. I got the first part right. Farrell’s stronger defence was always going to be needed to sure up the number one channel, and that he did. Eddie loves cricket analogies and I reckon Farrell…
With the first of three tests between Australia and England being played this Saturday, it seems everyone has an opinion. Mine, as far as the series goes, is that Australia will win 2 – 1 at least. England may knick one game at best. But that’s about it. I reckon England probably fancy their chances of doing better than that. I was part of the England coaching staff back in 2010 when we absolutely destroyed the Australian forwards in Perth and won the second test in Sydney when we got the balance right and brought our backs into the game.…
There are still three teams in the running to lift the trophy, but it’s very difficult to split them. England, France and Wales are very similar and the outcome will depend on which team scrums the best and nails more of their goal attempts. The other key variable, and I hate to say it, is the refereeing decisions. There were some flakey calls in the opening rounds, especially the one by JP Doyle against Italy in the 78th minute of the France match. It could all come down to one decision, but let’s hope not. The story so far After…
England’s first game under new coach Eddie Jones is now only days away. How will they go? How might they change their approach? And what defines Eddie as a coach? The way I see it is that Eddie has the pedigree and charisma to help England put last year’s premature RWC departure behind them and ultimately turn things around. But it won’t happen overnight. While English rugby is not on its knees, it is nowhere near where the RFU want it to be. They have the most money of any Rugby Union on the planet and the most players to…