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John Smit during the British and Irish Lions series launch at FNB Stadium.
(Images by Lee Warren / Gallo)
- Former SA captain John Smit has given the Boks a mental advantage ahead of next year’s British and Irish Lions Tour.
- Smit said it was “professional” the play to play in the Northern Hemisphere, where the Bulls, Sharks, Stormers and Lions will play in 2021.
- Smit added that even playing for the Sharks against the British and Irish Lions in 1997 was honor enough.
Former captain John smit give him Springboks the mental advantage over him British and Irish lions ahead of next year’s long-awaited tour.
Smit, speaking at Castle’s SA Rugby big reveal as the tour’s official sponsor, said that last year’s Rugby World Cup events, where the Boks defeated Wales and England, gave his former team the mental advantage over the Lions.
However, those two respective semi-final and final defeats to the Springboks in Japan last year would accelerate the intensity, warned Smit, who was the captain of the Boks in a World Cup final victory over England (2007) and in victory on the Lions tour in 2009.
“Winning the World Cup and having beaten the Welsh and English in the process, who will make up a large part of the British and Irish Lions team, will give the Boks a mental advantage,” Smit said.
“They go in there as world champions and have beaten those teams individually. From a mental point of view, they are in the best position that they could be.
“The other side of the coin is that those teams feel they were unlucky enough to lose those games and they will want to prove a point.
“I’ll tell you what, it’s all fun and games when you have a castle afterwards, but before and during that test match, there are wordy winks. There is war out there.
“I played with a lot of the Lions players and they are very competitive, very capable and very determined to try to fix what they thought they messed up last year.”
SA Rugby recently confirmed its participation in the Rugby Championship for at least the next 10 years, but the big four South African franchises were leaving the southern hemisphere to play in the old PRO14.
Smit, whose last club was Saracens in 2013, said this puts South Africa at a unique advantage in playing both in the Northern Hemisphere “test match style” environment, and keeping toes firmly immersed in the complexities. to fight New Zealand, Australia and Argentina. In the south.
“Maybe I’m a bit biased, but I have been in favor of this move north,” Smit said.
“Maybe it’s because I played rugby there recently and finished my career there, but the quality is high.
“Continuing with the Rugby Championship means that it benefits both sides. You have to play in a very different way in the Northern Hemisphere.
“There are many more opportunities to play test match rugby in the north than in the south. I think it would help us to have our franchises play in PRO14.”
Smit added that there was a lot of joy to play against the Lions, even for players who will not represent the Boks next year, who will play in tour games for the Stormers, Bulls, Sharks or the SA “Invitational” team. .
“One of my best experiences, and one of the best stories about my career that I have told, was about the 1997 experience, playing for the Sharks against the Lions in Durban,” he said.
“I was 19 years old and I think it was my second First Class match and to be able to follow 12 years later and experience it to the fullest was a privilege.
“Young people who have those opportunities … even if I had only played the Lions in 1997, I would have held onto that memory. I still have that jersey.
“It’s something that you can’t imitate anywhere else and that experience is what will make them really hungry and fight for that green and gold jersey, and then hold on to it.”
