World Cup-winning coach Graham Smith open to offers after overseas rescue mission

Coaches always want to leave the organisation they work for in a better place once they move on, and Estonian Rugby will have no complaints on that front when Graham Smith’s time with them officially comes to an end next week.

Smith, a Rugby World Cup-winning coach with England Women in 2014, has spent the last four years in the Baltic country, having been given the all-encompassing task of building the sport up there from pretty much ground zero.

The former Moseley player served as head coach of Estonian men and women, sevens and 15s, and Tallinn Kalev Rugby Club, as well as being Director of Rugby for Estonian Rugby, but funding cuts have left him no option but to look for something new.

Smith can look back on a job well done. The national men’s and women’s teams at senior and junior level are now competing on the Rugby Europe circuit in 15s and 7s, with results rapidly improving in the shortened format of the game, and there are now support structures in place to ensure Smith’s legacy lives on.

In the thick of winter, using his extensive contacts in the game, Smith set up webinars, featuring the likes of Red Roses legend Sarah Hunter, renowned scrum coach Matt Ferguson and ‘Mr Sevens’ Mike Friday, to increase the rugby IQ of local coaches.

“When I first came out to Estonia, in May 2022, they’d just started the club (Tallinn Kalev) back up after Covid and were struggling to get numbers, and we had to use players from the Armed Forces, who were out here for NATO and so on,” Smith said.

“There was no coaching setup, no medical setup, and since then we have got four Level 2 coaches with World Rugby, another three or four who will be able to take the course within the next year, and we ran another Level 1 coaching course on Saturday, where a number of the participants were from our U18s, which didn’t even exist three years ago.

“Our youth coach, Tanner Saar, one of our Level 2 coaches who plays for the national team in 7s and 15s, has grown this youth team from zero, and he now has 20 youth players at U18s and 20 U16 players, and last week they played in their first international tournament, the Rugby Europe Conference U18s, in Budapest.

“Since I arrived in Estonia, we have gone from being the lowest-ranked sevens team in Europe, to missing out on a bronze and silver medal by just three points. In the silver play-off this year, we lost to Gibraltar 17-14,” Smith added.

“The women played their first sevens international in June 2022, against Serbia, and struggled to put out 12 players and lost every game. And this year in Andorra, they won their first-ever international sevens game versus Greece, and teams that had previously beaten them by 30-50 points, they were a score within winning the game.

“I am extremely proud of what we have achieved in Estonia.”

Now 66, Smith is still keen to continue coaching, if the right position comes along.

“I’ve had a few clubs contact me, and I have got a couple of things in my diary.

“There’s been a few roles recently which I looked at and I didn’t take because I didn’t think the time was right, and I am not shy to admit it, I would like to have a go at a higher level, maybe in the Women’s Premiership.”