NZ and England in tug-o'-war over Smith
New Zealand and England are going head-to-head in a tug-o'-war over the services of respected former All Black backline coach Wayne Smith.
The Kiwis are "desperately keen" to hold on to Smith, New Zealand Rugby Union Chief Executive Steve Tew said on Friday.
At the same time England coach Stuart Lancaster made it clear he wants Smith, a "stand-out" candidate, as a member of his backroom staff through to the 2015 World Cup.
Smith, who signed a two-year contract with the Chiefs after the World Cup, is pondering whether to accept an offer from England.
Speaking after the NZRU's April board meeting, Tew says the NZRU is doing all it can to keep Smith's expertise in New Zealand.
"We consider Wayne to be an incredibly important asset to New Zealand rugby, not just the All Blacks," Tew said.
"He's worked incredibly hard on behalf of this organisation, so he's earned our respect for being able to make any decision he wants to make."
He said Smith had been completely open about the possibilities in front of him, and about what he wanted to do after opting to stand down from his position as All Blacks' assistant coach after their World Cup-winning exploits last year.
Smith has signed a two-year contract with the Chiefs, but his deal contains a break clause which would allow him to leave the franchise at the end of this Super Rugby season.
"We're certainly not going to leave him without other options to consider," Tew said.
"Going is just one - we're desperately keen to keep him in New Zealand, no doubt about that. But I'm not trying to guilt him into it."
Retention of institutional knowledge and intellectual property is an issue in any industry, but it is difficult to restrain coaches from working for opposition teams, Tew said.
"It's quite a complex issue and, as always with Smithy, he's been very open and honest with us. We're dead keen to find a solution, but there's no easy one."
Lancaster has a vacancy in his staff after former dual-code international Andy Farrell decided to stick with Saracens after being seconded to England from the Premiership champions for a Six Nations in which the Red Roses finished runners-up behind Grand Slam champions Wales.
That tournament represented a prolonged audition for Lancaster, formerly in charge of England's reserve side, who was initially appointed interim coach following Martin Johnson's post World Cup resignation but who has since got the job on a permanent basis.
Lancaster met with Smith, who knows English rugby from his time in charge of Northampton, in Durban last Friday and now wants him to help form an England coaching trio along with forwards chief Graham Rowntree.
"[I had to] find the Andy Farrell replacement, look around to see who was the best person for that fit. For me, there is one stand-out candidate - Wayne Smith," Lancaster told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"I met him and had a real good chat with him. He has some decisions to make of his own.
"Clearly the lure of international rugby is a strong one for him. He enjoyed his time at Northampton, he enjoyed his time in England.
"He was excited by the vision I presented to him about where we were going as a national team," said Lancaster, who will hope to follow Smith's example by guiding England to glory when they stage the World Cup in three years' time.
"Wayne has got not just a lot to offer from a coaching point of view, in terms of experience, southern hemisphere and he has been in World Cups."
But for Smith, now winning plaudits as coach of Waikato, the question of coaching against New Zealand is no easy matter.
"It is possible [I could coach England against the All Blacks]. I have to search inside myself to see whether I can do that or not," Smith said.
"I am patriotic and I love the All Black jersey. That is why it is such a big decision."
Meanwhile Lancaster denied suggestions Smith would be the head coach in a new England set-up while he moved to a Director of Rugby post, saying he wanted to stay with the same sort of set-up that worked so well in the Six Nations.
"My role is to work with the commercial teams, the media, the directors of rugby in the Premiership, the RFU," said Lancaster.
"I will set the overall framework of how we are going to play and then the coaches would work on that detail.
"When Andy, Graham and I worked together I would set the basic framework of how we would play. It was always an integrated approach.
"Andy would lead on defence but he would have a view on attack and he would coach the set piece attack in the backs and the kicking game.
"Graham would lead on the forwards and he would be involved in defence and some of our attacking options off scrums and line-outs. The role for Wayne is the same as what Andy did."
Whatever happens, Smith will be unavailable for England's upcoming tour of South Africa and Lancaster said he had held talks with Port Elizabeth-born former England back Mike Catt regarding an interim coaching position.
Smith is set to make his decision on whether to accept a post with England within the next 10 days.
Sources: NZ Newswire and AFP