By David Beniuk
August 28th 2008 @ 1:12am
Smith breaking down over same old questions
George Smith is sick of questions about the breakdown, but that’s probably what you get when you become the world’s most capped loose forward.
In all the excitement of Australia’s first win on South African soil in eight years it was easy to overlook flanker Smith’s milestone - 90 Tests, one more than Frenchman Olivier Magne.
“I wasn’t aware of it until after the game,” Smith said today.
“You don’t play the game to reach these milestones but it was nice news to receive after the game and to surpass a great player like Olivier Magne is a fantastic achievement.
“I’ve got plenty of time and plenty of games ahead of me.”
And no doubt plenty more questions about the breakdown, a topic Smith could easily be handed an honorary doctorate in.
“That’s a question that comes up every week,” he noted today before giving his weekly answer.
“The breakdown’s an important part of the game so it will definitely be an area that we will take notice of.”
The South African media, though, have been obsessed with their side’s inability to dominate the tackle area and frustrated the Springboks haven’t fielded a specialist “fetcher” in their recent run of Test losses.
And they’re keen to get world class Aussie No.7 Smith to back them.
“It can work in different ways for you, you can have faster (flankers) in terms of reaction time at the breakdown, then a bigger physical guy in terms of ball carrying ability,” Smith repeated.
“So it works differently for different teams and I guess it works around the way the team is coached as well.”
Smith could go on answering similar questions into a 100th Test next year, a mark he admits he is aiming for.
“It’s a possibility that I can reach that mark,” he said.
“My body’s feeling really good at the moment and I’m enjoying the football that I am playing so hopefully if the time comes I’d like to make that mark.”
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(6)
jools-usa said | August 28th 2008 @ 4:13am | Report comment
George Smith’s consistent effort, calmness, and knowledge, is regularly overshadowed by
inconsistant rulings at the breakdown.
Smithy never changes, it’s just the refs, and the result is he either has a great game or
a so-so one.
Jools-USA
Darryl said | August 28th 2008 @ 4:47am | Report comment
Smith is an incredible talent, considering what he’s accomplished in his short career. He deserves all the praise he gets. I also don’t recall ever seeing him resort to dirty play. And I’m South African.
H-RAINE said | August 28th 2008 @ 5:55pm | Report comment
when rockys gone would there be any thought of instaed of 6 mcmeniam 7 smith 8palu 19waugh or what about maybe 6 palu 7 waugh 8 smith 19 mcmeniam what do you think and also will the aussie team on saturday be 1 robinson 2 moore 3 dunning 4mumm 5 horwill 6 mcmeniam 7 smith 8 palu 9 cordingley 10 gits 11 lote 12 tahu 13 stirlo 14 hynes 15 mitchell 16 tp nau 17 baxter 18 bsharpe 19 waugh 20 sheean 21 cross 22 turner?
Peter K said | August 28th 2008 @ 6:32pm | Report comment
H-Raine - having 6 Palu 7 Waugh 8 Smith is a minor variation of 6 Waugh 7 Smith 8 Palu which failed under steddie eddie, Deans resurrected it against AB’s and it failed dismally as well.
We need a strong lineout and just 1 fetcher.
longer term 6 should be McMeniman or Mumm or Chisholm.
ohtani's jacket said | August 28th 2008 @ 7:18pm | Report comment
I had no idea that Smith had played 90 Tests.
Only 28 too. Great servant of Australian rugby.
H-RAINE said | August 28th 2008 @ 9:00pm | Report comment
so you would keep waugh in the 19