Guru double act helping Smith fit bill for Scotland

Published on Tuesday 14 August 2007 12:19

CRAIG SMITH today hailed assistance from two of Scotland's top fitness gurus as he put a nine month injury nightmare behind him to return to the international rugby arena.

The 28-year-old Edinburgh prop forward produced further evidence of his recovery in coming off the bench to help seal a 31-21 victory over Ireland in the Bank of Scotland Corporate World Cup warm up Test at Murrayfield.

"It has been a strange comeback," admitted Smith who successfully underwent surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his back late last year.

He added: "That was my fourth appearance since the injury either as a substitute or in a starting line-up and each one in those nine months since going under the knife has been in a Scotland jersey of some type."

By contrast with his previous three outings this time he was in the full line-up and Smith said: "A lot has happened since my previous cap against Romania just before I was diagnosed with the injury and it is just as well there was a summer representative programme in place.

"Going to the Churchill Cup with Scotland A was the break I needed to get not only some game-time but also a bit of confidence restored and it's thanks to those run-outs I was given the opportunity to share in the win over Ireland.

"Playing those matches against USA, England Saxons and Ireland A might not have been possible without the conditioning work set by Mark Drury at Edinburgh and through that I was able to get a strong measure on whether a World Cup bid, at least, was a possibility."

There were 24 minutes remaining when Smith emerged for his 20th cap and his arrival saw Scotland 24-6 up. According to the man whose last appearance for Edinburgh was on November 3, 2006 an Irish fightback (they reached 24-21) was always on the cards but he believes that dedicated fitness training under Scotland supervisor Mark Bitcon helped the side see the game out. Smith was among those mentioned in dispatches by Bitcon in the lead up to the Irish clash as having responded particularly well to training in losing approximately 6kgs.

Smith confirmed: "Before my neck injury I was weighing around 127 kgs (nearly 20 stones)."

Under Bitcon's regime Smith's programme weight on Saturday was listed as 116 kgs (18st 5lbs).

Smith says: "In the modern game you have to be able to run around the pitch as well as scrummage and that is something I was particularly conscious of in working my way back to fitness.

"When I got out into the middle the guys did pretty well to slow things down and get the chat back up again. Re-organisation was necessary because of injuries and we did so successfully but in off the cuff fashion because the nature of the blows meant we had a second row (Nathan Hines) and a front row (Ross Ford) in the breakaway trio by no-side.

"That said a bit about our versatility but above all there was a bit of mettle in the way we dug in to finish the stronger. Whether being part of that will be sufficient to get me into the final 30 is down to the coaches but I do know how good it felt to be running about again on match-day."