After the appointment of former Springboks coach Nelie Smith for the Italian club Rugby Rovigo, he moved there in 1986, soon becoming a key element for the achievement of two national titles (1988 and 1990), alongside fellow South Africans Naas Botha and Tito Lupini.
The Smith-Lupini-Botha-Smal era is still fondly remembered in Rovigo, the most rugby addicted city in Italy, for the impact it had in ending a 9 years winning drought for the team.
On the Australasian tour with Western Province in 1993, during a match against Queensland, Smal received a blow in the mouth causing him to lose vision in the bottom corner of his left eye forcing his retirement from playing.
[4] In 2004, Smal was appointed to the South African team management as assistant coach to Jake White, during which time the Springboks won the Tri-Nations championship in 2004 before winning the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
[9] He then left Western Province in 2019 to join Jake White at Japanese club team Toyota Verblitz where he is currently the forwards coach.