SOME may say his philosophy amounts to nothing more than airy-fairy, pie in the sky but new Free State Currie Cup coach Franco Smith is determined to restore the team to its traditional free-running roots.Smith was installed as the Currie Cup coach earlier this week and replaces Rory Duncan, who will take the job of director of rugby at the union.Smith, a Springbok in nine Tests from 1997 to 1999 wants to reacquaint the players with the ball-in-hand approach that has often made Free State such difficult opponents, particularly in the amateur era.Detractors will point to the fact that such an approach only yielded a solitary Currie Cup title in 1976 before the uberpragmatist Rassie Erasmus restored them to the winners circle, albeit sans stylistic merit, in the mid-1990s.Having just returned from Europe, Smith was part of that coaching staff, so he should be able to find a middle ground between wish list and what is practically possible."The major objective is for Free State to play ...
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