Pienaar full of praise for Smith
September 8, 2001

Saracens boss Francois Pienaar has heralded new recruit Luke Smith's 29-point haul during his side's 34-30 win over Gloucester as "an incredible transformation".

Pienaar looked on last week when the fly-half failed to settle into his rhythm with the boot as Saracens crumbled to a 12-8 defeat against Wasps in the opening Premiership game of the season.

But today was a very different matter for both Smith and Saracens. The 30-year-old, who joined the Watford club just a week before the start of the Premiership season and was on the verge of booking his flight home to South Africa, kicked nine penalties and one conversion in all as well as handing Saracens victory in the dying minutes of the game.

"Last week Luke got a roasting for missing seven kicks which could have won us the game," said chief executive Pienaar, who has signed Smith on a two-month contract to cover for the injured Janni de Beer.

"But today's performance was an awesome display.

"Luke was very depressed after the Wasps match and lost a lot of his confidence. He even asked me if I was now looking for another fly-half but I said no.

"Since then we have done a lot of work together and his mindset and actual focus has changed dramatically. This week he has been fantastic so to turn around his performance in a week is just incredible."

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