Kick-chase will destroy the game warns London Irish new boss Brian Smith
The former England attack coach has pin-pointed last season’s grand final between Harlequins and Leicester as an example of how all Premiership sides should play.
And he believes England’s 2015 World Cup effort will be far better served if teams set out to play with ball in hand rather than opting to kick the leather off it.
Smith, preparing for the new season as director of rugby with London Irish, explained to The Rugby Paper: “Hopefully teams will relax a bit and play some more enterprising rugby.
“The best thing about last season was the Premiership grand final where you had two teams that wanted to attack: Leicester, the best try-scoring team, and Harlequins, who were audacious on the day and said, ‘we’ve come to play and we’ll stick by our philosophy.’
“They didn’t want to play this rubbish ‘kick-chase’ nonsense which is in vogue with South African teams and they were rewarded by being in the final.
“I hope the message is getting across because rugby, since South Africa won the 2007 World Cup playing that kick-chase stuff, has been dying a death.
“Saracens by and large do the same in the Premiership and have had success, but it’s starting to kill the game and the world has become captivated by kick-chase. Even some Australian provinces in Super 15 have been doing it.
“I’m a massive advocate of what we call ‘good over evil’ rugby and there’s no reason why attacking teams can’t beat kick-chase sides. Harlequins and Leicester have proved positive that’s a fact and more teams should take notice.
“The All Blacks are world champions now and they play a good all-round game, so that’s what English rugby should be looking at now.
“The new champions of England are a team that won the title by sticking to their philosophy and outplaying the opposition, so the message is clear for English clubs, particularly with a World Cup on home soil coming up in 2015.
“International teams would be well served by trying to emulate the All Backs, and the Premiership teams should emulate Harlequins.”
Since returning to full-time rugby in March, Smith has instigated widespread changes at London Irish, with a raft of new coaches and players in place.
His mojo is back and wretched memories of a shoddy departure from the England scene, if not quite forgotten, have certainly diminished.
“It was a tough time with England at the end, but the good thing about being back at London Irish is that I know the people and they know me,” Smith said.
“Because I’ve gone through this process before during my first stint here of trying to rebuild, I kind of know the fast way around the track.
“An international perspective has probably rounded me as a person and when you suffer a bit of adversity, as long as it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger.
“We all got put through the ringer at the end of last year and understandably so, but I’m a better coach and person as a result of that experience.”
Smith has revealed his new leadership group at the Exiles, with long-serving flanker Declan Danaher succeeding Bob Casey as club captain.
Alex Corbisiero, Bryn Evans and new signings Tomas O’Leary and Ian Humphreys are also stepping up.
Smith added: “Dec’s played over 250 games here and he’s London Irish through and through. He’s the epitome of all that’s good about the club. The others will add to our direction, too. Tomas and Ian are 29 and 30 respectively and they know what they’re doing.
“We’ve gone through a bit of a process to put the ‘Irish’ back in London Irish more than it has been and we’re now what we say we are on the tin.”
NEALE HARVEY
