Jamie George reveals the ‘hard’ lesson he learnt from a Springboks legend: ‘He was a joke’

England and Saracens great Jamie George has revealed what it was like training with Springboks legend John Smit.

The former Bok captain finished his playing career at Sarries during the earlier stages of George’s career, and the England hooker has recounted how it felt training with the World Cup-winning front-rower.

Smit started his career out as a loosehead prop at the Sharks but shifted to the middle of the front-row, which ultimately became his primary role as he started a record 81 Tests in the role for the Boks.

Jamie George: ‘It’s not nice scrummaging at hooker’

However, throughout his career he would switch roles in matches to accommodate the introduction of Bismarck du Plessis in particular and started 13 Springboks Tests at prop.

While he was in the latter stages of his career when he played for Saracens, George revealed that he was still a powerhouse scrummager. He said as much during an appearance on For the Love of Rugby podcast with England legends Ben Youngs and Dan Cole.

“It’s not nice in there, mate. It’s really not for everyone,” he said when asked how it feels when scrummaging at hooker at the highest level.

“It’s a crazy amount of pressure. Like you come up from it seeing stars pretty much most times. The level of force that goes through is incredible, really, especially at hooker. You’ve got to remember, with a hooker, both your arms are behind your back.

“So, first and foremost, when the thing goes down, it’s not the nicest face plant in the world, but my responsibility is trying to keep the height of the scrum down. Lots of teams want to try and lift you up and expose you and get through seams like how tight I can be to my tighthead and my loosehead without getting too technical with it is a really important role for me. And hookers are seen as the leader of the scrum, and for that exact reason. You’re in the middle. You can feel it; you can feel what’s going on your right, on your left, whether you’re getting enough from behind. I enjoy that side of it.”

Former scrum-half Youngs asked: “Can you feel when you go against another hooker, can you sense that you’ve got the better of that hooker as a scrummager?”

Luckless Springboks powerhouse’s career in ‘serious doubt’ amid ‘very scary’ concussion issues

John Smit was ‘unbelievable’

And this prompted George to recount his battles with Smit during Saracens’ scrum sessions.

“100%, and I learnt it the hard way against John Smit in training,” he remarked.

“He was a joke, mate. I did a scrum session with him once where he started at hooker, went to loosehead and did tighthead in one session, and honestly, like how hard is that to do? It’s a joke, and he was unbelievable at all three.

“A good scrummaging hooker really makes a scrum proper.”

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.

Difficulty of playing hooker

Former Leicester and England prop Cole agreed with George that the hooker is pivotal to a successful and powerful scrum and further described why it is such a difficult position to play.

“A good scrum hooker takes you over the top, as in going from a good scrum to a great scrum,” he began. “Because you come up against the best teams and say, as a tighthead, you probably got your hands full with the loosehead; that’s the one you got to win and then you got your loosehead versus their tighthead; if you can draw there, or get parity, if your hooker is on top of the opposition hooker, it makes you go forward.

“Sometimes with hookers, they’re probably one of the most important people in the scrum, but at the same time you have to give up the most because the tighthead needs to be comfortable, then the loosehead needs to be comfortable, and then it’s like, ‘Well, I’m in the middle here, lads, and I’m not feeling particularly comfortable’.”

READ MORE: Rassie Erasmus’ verdict on Tony Brown’s Springboks exit: ‘We’ve made the mistake in the past’