Smal – Rugby not for sissies

Gert Smal, the great rugby philosopher and Springbok forwards coach delivered another pearl of wisdom yesterday when he revealed to New Zealand journalists that “the game is not made for sissies”.

He was responding to accusations that the Boks had targeted All Black captain Richie McCaw with a series of “cheap shots” during their Tri Nations game in Durban.

“I don’t know, actually, what you are talking about but the game is not made for sissies … that’s all I can say to you,” replied Smal.

He believes the accusations to be unworthy of a great rugby nation like New Zealand.

“Yeah, especially with them being the kind of the team they are… their stature, and with the type of players they have. It is a well respected team as well, so it’s quite surprising they come out with that.”

“I won’t call it cheap shots.You can’t run away from the physical part of the game and you have to be able to deal with it.

“You walk into the comfort space of another person and it all depends on how you can take it and how you can handle it.

“As far as I know, our instructions will always be to the players to keep it as clean as possible and play the game as hard as possible as well,” concluded Smal.