Romantic Irish alive and kicking

EUROPEAN CUP SEMI-FINAL/LONDON IRISH v TOULOUSE: Toulouse may be the aristocrats of Europe but the Exiles' coaching staff have been rehearsing some classy moves of their own, writes Robert Kitson

It will take something extra special for the big-time virgins of London Irish to upset Toulouse in this afternoon's Heineken Cup semi-final. No club embraces the ideals of total rugby quite like Guy Noves's classical troupe of strolling players, who on their day operate on a different plane.

Beating them at their own game is as easy as catching moonbeams in a jar. Only a certain breed of opposition coach would view the prospect as a) exhilarating or b) a chance to outdazzle the urbane sophisticates from the Midi-Pyrenees.

Yet Irish scent an opportunity, their rising self-assurance apparent. It shows how far they have come under the enlightened managerial double act of Brian Smith and Toby Booth, not to mention Mike Catt and the rest of their backroom staff.

"We don't want to beat people 3-0, we want to win 36-20 because the players enjoy it more," said Booth, more than happy to outline a rugby philosophy that sounds positively existential compared with, say, England's initial World Cup campaign. Only if the Exiles decline to make a flamboyant bow on the grandest stage in the club's history will their coaches take offence.

"Brian and I both believe the game should be played with an attacking mentality, that attack will beat defence, that good will triumph over evil," Booth said.

For a second it is almost as if the visionary French poet Rimbaud has been reincarnated as an English set-piece evangelist.

The sceptics will counter that Irish's league position of seventh is a more realistic barometer of their romantic notions. But not many average teams get this far, let alone dim-witted ones.

While Irish may not have the biggest of squads they possess one of the smarter management teams. Smith and Booth have instilled a way of working that grows more intriguing as each layer is peeled away.

Did you know that the Exiles have been practising using blacked-out goggles to improve communication among their support runners? Or that they practise their lineouts in the swimming pool on the entirely sensible basis that it puts less strain on the jumpers' bodies to land in water rather than on solid ground? Clever. Very clever.

Smith, the former Wallaby and Ireland international back, is more than happy to share the credit with the less celebrated Booth, whose playing career peaked at Folkestone and Blackheath. The latter is distinctly unimpressed, in the wake of Martin Johnson's appointment, at the idea that only former internationals can work wonders at elite level these days.

"I don't have a criticism of leading ex-players becoming coaches but I don't buy the argument that you can't compete if you haven't been there," Booth said pointedly. "Hopefully I'm an advert that, if you work hard, you get your rewards. Look at Arsène Wenger and Jose Mourinho. Neither of them played at the highest level.

"A lot of former players just regurgitate how they were coached themselves. That way you don't evolve, especially when you're in a pressurised environment and worrying about results straight away."

Booth, for his part, is far more likely to lob in the odd "curve ball session", which is where the goggles - "It's very amusing for people who aren't wearing them and quite unnerving for those who are" - come in.

Catt describes his colleague's work on the Irish lineout and pack in general as "phenomenal", and the latter's promotion to the England Saxons set-up is a further nod of approval towards Booth, the one-time lecturer from St Mary's College Twickenham who prefers to educate with a twist.

"Coaching is about being ahead, and coming up with innovative things that are a little bit obscure makes a massive difference," he says. "When I was lecturing physiology we were talking one day about endocrine systems and hormonal transfer, which is basically about things crossing membranes. I could see people glazing over so I stopped the lecture halfway through. I told them it was like getting into a nightclub; you have to walk down the queue and find a pretty lady to help you get in. When it came to revising for the exams they all said they were going to do 'the nightclub question'. I realised then I'd stumbled on something."

Meeting Smith, who fetched up at Irish after coaching spells in Bath and Japan, appears to have been a case of serendipity. The Oxford-educated Australian was employed in advertising in Sydney when the coaching bug struck him like a lightning bolt as he stood behind the posts with friends watching the 1999 World Cup final in Cardiff.

Booth's conversion was more gradual but also had a Southern Hemisphere element.

"I remember Graham Henry coming over to Blackheath at a time when they were trying to develop a relationship with Auckland. Graham went around the room and asked the big hitters, the senior players and former internationals, what the secret of rugby was. There were some wild and wonderful answers but Graham kept shaking his head. 'The key to rugby,' he said eventually, 'is getting across the gain-line on first phase.' It was a bit of a Eureka moment."

There will be a similar sense of revelation at Twickenham today if Irish can pull it off, even among those who watch the Exiles regularly.

"We've got to stay true to ourselves," Smith warned. "I don't care if we win or lose as long as we play our game. What's got us here has been a free spirit and a no-fear attitude. It's vitally important we maintain that.

"It doesn't really matter what the pundits say. If we've got a stranglehold after 20 minutes I think confidence will soar. It'll be very difficult to accept if we don't have a crack."

Smith is a long-time admirer of French rugby and there is an element of wanting his team to measure themselves against consistently the most elegant attacking team in Europe. If Irish were to go into their shells, Smith reckons even their opponents would be disappointed.

"I think Toulouse enjoy the fact we're not afraid and are ready to play," he says.

Victory would also further heighten the suspicion that Smith and Booth will coach at Test level one day. The only Premiership club the Exiles have yet to defeat home and away is Leicester at Welford Road but Smith, currently linked with the contrasting vacancies at the Waratahs and England, is playing down all speculation.

"I'm contracted to London Irish, I think the squad is getting better and the players still look me in the eye when I walk in."

Booth simply quotes the former Exiles coach Gary Gold: "He used to say there are only two types of coaches: 'Those who get sacked and those who are waiting to get sacked'."

There are also two kinds of rugby team: those who cling to the orthodox and those who dare to dream.