Bulls set to unveil Smal as Currie Cup coach on Friday

The Vodacom Bulls will unveil another coaching coup this week when they announce the arrival of former Stormers Director of Rugby Gert Smal as their Currie Cup coach for the new season.

Smal will reform his partnership with Bulls coach Jake White that took them to the 2007 Rugby World Cup trophy and will bring a wealth of experience to Loftus Versfeld when he arrives.

Smal was also assistant coach for Ireland up until 2013 before returning home and taking over at Western Province between 2014 and 2019.

From there he left for Japan where he joined White in coaching Toyota Verblitz and took over the coaching duties when White returned to South Africa.

The Currie Cup fixtures will be confirmed Friday by SA Rugby and the competition is expected to run between January 15 and June 26 this year, overlapping with the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

This will place strain on team resources to do well in both competitions, and with the SA under-20 championship also on the go at the same time, player management will be crucial for teams to succeed.

Smal is likely to be assisted by Hayden Groepes and Pine Pienaar in working with the players and will have a vital role in working alongside White to ensure the Bulls defend the title they won under White in the last two years.

While the Bulls haven’t made any formal announcement yet, they have scheduled the announcement for Friday after the fixtures are confirmed.

On Wednesday White said the Bulls would “appoint the best coach that will help us win.”

“If that means he comes from the outside, then it will be like that. We have to understand it will be a juggling act - we have the URC, the Currie Cup and the under-20 competition that will overlap and it will be interesting to see how other unions handle it,” White said.

White said because of the overlaps the coaching teams will need to be in sync.

“To have two sets of coaches around players and one week there is a Currie Cup game and no URC game and having two sets of coaches coaching the players, we need to ensure they are aligned that we don’t confuse the players. We need to streamline it to make sure we’re singing from the same hymn sheet.

“We will be using a lot of the same players so the work done needs to be the best in terms of the group. It can be the same team but different coaches. We could play the Sharks two weeks in a row - once in the URC and once in the Currie Cup and in the second week it could be we need a different team to beat the Sharks,

“The coaches will then need to hand over the team to another group of coaches. It is a balancing act, but we need to make sure we have the best guy that can add the most value.”

White’s decades friendship with Smal, and their years coaching together will make the juggling act a lot easier to handle, and also signals how serious the Bulls are to be the strongest force in South African rugby.