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'The Professor gave me love for the game': Scott Robertson discusses his coaching idol
By Ned Lester
In a week where he received yet another award for his work with the Black Ferns - this time the Buddle Findlay Coach of the Year award at New Zealand's Halberg Awards - Wayne Smith has received not just praise but also credit from Crusaders mastermind Scott Robertson for inspiring the Super Rugby Pacific champion's remarkable coaching career.
Wayne Smith's savvy understanding of the game of rugby has contributed to some almighty success for both the men and women in black, while earning him the nickname "The Professor".
The Professor's enthusiasm and understanding for the game rubbed off on a young Scott Robertson, who revealed to Joey Wheeler in an interview for Sky Sport just how the intricate knowledge Smith possesses sparked a newfound love for the game within Robertson.
"I caught it off Wayne Smith," Robertson said of his love for coaching. "The Professor gave me love for the game, a different love for the game.
"I loved the physicality, I loved hitting people, I loved cutting people in half and I loved the comradery off the field, and then Wayne Smith taught us about the game.
"He was constantly giving us game understanding and that's what I fell in love with and I thought 'ooh'. Then I started coaching a local school, Christ's College, and I just knew then, so I went to university and did a degree in recreation management just so I could line things up.
"I'm quite dyslexic and then it took me five years to get that degree, well, Jane helped me most of it, I always say as a joke Jane got a double degree, hers and mine.
"So the foundations were there and then, look I've coached for 15-16 years and I set myself up for the next opportunity but the key point is, what I got off Smithy, Steve Hansen and Robbie Deans, I still use today. But my spin on it."
Elaborating on just what his "spin" looks like, Robertson said "I love connecting people, connect people to get inspired so that they belong in that group.
"Culture is translated basically into care, and how much you care but how much you care you show on and off the field."
Prior to the interview beginning, Wheeler was instructed there were to be no questions asked about the All Blacks coaching role, despite that being the biggest news story of the moment. Wheeler instead merely referenced the elephant in the room and Robertson replied with a laugh: "well, someone else will address that I reckon. Hopefully very shortly."
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There is nothing particularly significant about Ireland in this regard compared to other Tier 1 nations. To look at 'strategy' for illegal play its best to see what teams push boundaries with new laws. SA have milked two tries at ruck block downs. The strategy is to charge the first few before the ball is out at about 4 seconds but pull out and put up hands in reigned apology. The referees usually allow the scum half to clear without awarding a penalty in this scenario. The problem with that being that the scrumhalf is now taking over 5 seconds through no fault of his own. Having achieved a few slow balls > 5s , the SA forward can now pick a scrum to charge dead on 5s. Now if the scrum half waits, he will concede a penalty, as we saw against Scotland. With the new rule in place, any early charge should result in an immediate penalty.
SA also got an offside block against England which was pivotal again after a couple of 'apologetic' offside aborted charges forcing England to clear slowly.
Go to commentsYep, you're not the sharpest tool in the shed are you?
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