They are two of the most promising and progressive coaches at the highest level of domestic rugby in the country and Saturday’s Currie Cup final will provide the stage for yet another intriguing encounter between Franco Smith and Nollis Marais.
Winning the Currie Cup will be the crowning achievement for two careers that have walked a similar path in many respects and proof that a more ball in hand approach to the game can be fruitful in South African.
A former Springbok flyhalf and centre and having coached club rugby in Italy, Smith returned to the country two years ago and immediately made an impact on the rugby landscape in the Free State, coaching the University of the Free State to their first Varsity Cup title.
The 44-year-old Smith’s success in the high octane Varsity Cup was soon rewarded with him being appointed as Cheetahs Super Rugby coach last year and he quickly achieved tangible results by engineering the Cheetahs first Super Rugby win against the Bulls in the competition.
The Cheetahs, though, stumbled at the penultimate stage of last year’s Currie Cup as they lost to the eventual champions, the Golden Lions, in their semi-final at Ellis Park.
Smith and his team, however, had taken a huge leap in their transition from the Varsity Cup to the big stage.
While the Cheetahs struggled along in this year’s Super Rugby competition, they showed enough glimpses of a team that can become a force with their disciplinarian coach at the helm and a sea of eager youngsters with nothing to lose.
Now, Smith and his gang of former Varsity Cup stars stand on the verge of adding their names to Free State rugby folklore.
Smith, no doubt, will be feted amongst the best coaches the union has produced and become a certainty for higher honours in the future.
Marais, on the other hand, has not enjoyed as easy a ride as Smith has had to the top.
It is Marais’ grind from the bottom to the top, however, that makes his a modern day rugby fairytale that will get its just reward if he were to hold aloft the oldest domestic trophy in world rugby.
In his playing days, Marais was a hard working loose forward and played most of his club rugby in Pretoria for Adelaar and Naka Bulls, before enjoying a stint playing club rugby in Wales.
Marais started his coaching career also at Naka Bulls before moving to Hoerskool Overkruin and was eventually appointed Tuks head coach in 2010.
His moment of reckoning came a year later when he won the national Under-21 interprovincial championship with the Blue Bulls in his first year in charge and followed it up with two more titles in the three years thereafter.
Just like Smith, Marais elevated his stature in domestic coaching circles by leading Tuks to their first ever Varsity Cup title in 2012.
Last year, Marais was appointed Blue Bulls Currie Cup coach and his young and inexperienced team lost in the semi-finals against the Western Province.
Marais was handed the biggest job in the capital when he took over from Frans Ludeke as Super Rugby coach and with many players from his Varsity Cup and Bulls Under-21 winning sides and last year’s Currie Cup squad, Marais came close to making the play-offs of Super Rugby.
Now, Marais and his young Bulls also stand on the verge of greatness with Marais looking to be one of a few coaches that can boast of winning a trophy in almost every competition he has coached in.
The Star