George Smith: Wallaby legend insists he is at Wasps to be an asset - not a threat

Having admired and maybe envied the World Cup’s successful players, we now find them among us. New Zealand had no sooner collected the Webb Ellis Cup by beating Australia in the final at Twickenham last weekend than they were waving Dan Carter, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith off to big-money contracts in France, and this trio and many more will be turning out for teams on our doorstep when European club competition returns this week. It means the national loyalty that held sway for the past two months must be set to one side, because if an English club are to end a nine-year wait to win the European Cup, it will be done with help from the Premiership’s foreign legion.

When Wasps were England’s last winners of the main European title in 2007, 13 of their 15 starters in the final were English-qualified. Those days have gone and George Smith, the eminent Australian back-rower, is one of nine players drawn from outside England in the Wasps team who face Gloucester in the Premiership on Sunday, followed by a daunting trip to the three-time winners Leinster next Sunday at the start of a classic European “pool of death” also comprising Toulon and Bath.

The Premiership’s official figures put the number of their clubs’ players who are qualified for England at 72 per cent, which is much lower than the equivalent numbers in New Zealand and Australia. At Wasps, there are 12 non-England internationals in a 41-man European squad, including the newly signed New Zealand backs Charles Piutau and Frank Halai, alongside five England players: Joe Launchbury, Matt Mullan, Christian Wade, James Haskell and Joe Simpson.

The inevitable question is whether foreigners of Smith’s quality – the Sydney-born 35-year-old is the world’s second most capped flanker, behind Richie McCaw – improve domestic talent by association, giving a leg up to Wasps’ exciting uncapped youngsters such as the centre Elliot Daly, fly-half Alex Lozowski and back-rows Nathan Hughes and Sam Jones (Hughes qualifies for England next year). Or does the lack of Englishness extrapolate to the national team’s failure to win World Cups and Six Nations’ Championships?

“I hope people see me as an asset, not as a threat,” says Smith, who played 111 Tests for the Wallabies, the last against the British and Irish Lions in 2013. “If you’re a player learning the trade you’re going to pick up things from the way [experienced players] train, the way they run lines, the way they read a game. When I was growing up, I learnt more than anything from watching a player do things on the training field, translated to a game.”

Whichever side of the debate you favour, the number of overseas recruits looks like rising. The signing of France’s No 8 Louis Picamoles to Northampton from Toulouse for next season reflects an almost 20 per cent hike in the Premiership’s salary cap: the basic £5.5 million will rise to £6.5m for 2016-17, enhanced by two “excluded players” whose wages fall outside the calculations.

Smith epitomises the global market. In addition to 13 seasons spent with the Brumbies, he has played for Toulon and Lyon in France, and Suntory Sungoliath in Japan. “It’s no accident they have won those titles, because most of the players are international players,” Smith says of Toulon.

So can Wasps hope to compete with them? “I wouldn’t compare the two clubs,” Smith says. “We have a very good squad, a team that believes they are capable of good things.”

Smith played against England 12 times from 2000 to 2009, winning six and losing six. “The weather is more forgiving in Australia and there is more focus on ball-handling skills, and more ball-in-play time,” he says. “To me it doesn’t make sense just to scrum and have nothing else to your repertoire. As well as ability at the set-piece, you need to create things. Having said that, the surfaces up here are great and the clubs are trying to promote running rugby. Wasps have an array of skills. I don’t think there are many coaches here who want to play parasitic rugby, never trying anything from their own half.”

Since his arrival, Smith has started Wasps’ three Premiership matches, with losses away to Harlequins and Leicester either side of a 16-9 home win over Bath. A master of the turnover, he is enjoying a return to the No 7 role where he made his name, after time spent at blindside and No 8. And he is adjusting to Premiership refereeing. “Every competition is different and it’s my job to adapt,” Smith says, diplomatically. “Do I enjoy it? Probably not. I’d like every referee to be exactly the same.”

Bath: Rhys Priestland (Wales, fly-half); Nikola Matawalu (Fiji, scrum-half)

Bordeaux-Bègles: Adam Ashley-Cooper (Australia, back); Sekope Kepu (Australia, prop)

Exeter: Michele Campagnaro (Italy, centre)

Glasgow: Taqele Naiyaravoro (Australia, wing)

Leicester: Peter Betham (Australia, wing/full-back)

Leinster: Isa Nacewa (Fiji, back)

Munster: Francis Saili (NZ, centre)

Northampton: Victor Matfield (South Africa, lock)

Racing 92: Dan Carter (NZ, fly-half/centre)

Saracens: Samuela Vunisa (Italy, back-row)

Scarlets: DTH van der Merwe (Canada, wing)

Stade Français: Will Genia (Australia, scrum-half)

Toulon: Quade Cooper (Australia, fly-half); Salesi Ma’afu (Australia, prop); Samu Manoa (USA, lock/No 8); Ma’a Nonu (NZ, centre)

Wasps: Frank Halai (NZ, wing); Charles Piutau (NZ, utility back); George Smith (Australia, flanker).