Saving Smittie
6 Jul 2006
Keo, in his News 24 column, writes that John Smit is an accident waiting to happen.
His body cannot sustain the demands placed on him by the national selectors.
The Springbok captain has missed something like 23 minutes of test rugby since Jake White took charge in 2004.
It is one thing to back your captain. It is quite another to play him into the ground. If Smit breaks down between now and next June it will be no surprise. And if he does, then the last thing the national selectors or coach can do is point a finger at the provincial coach of the Sharks. Smit’s playing burdens are all national related. He has been rested, rotated and rehabilitated at his region during the course of the last two years.
It is at national level where he gets no playing respite.
In 2001 Smit played the most games by a South African in getting to 33. In 2002 he was crocked and only made it back into the national frame in 2003. His body broke down a year after the fact.
And this time it has been two years of non-stop international activity for the Bok captain. Marius Joubert is another case in point. In 2004 Joubert played 33 matches. He has never recovered, with each attempted comeback stifled by another injury.
The national structure blames the provincial and regional structure for a lack of conditioning. It is hypercritical because so much damage is done at test level. You only have to look at the Schalk Burger. He was an accident waiting to happen because of the pounding his body took at test level.
There is not a more physically demanding stage than the test arena. Super 14 rugby is exhausting, but playing for your country is physically tougher and mentally far more draining.
And Smit has copped it on both fronts. Captaining the Springboks is among the toughest assignments in South African business. Playing in the frontrow is one of the more demanding physical expectations. Yet Smit soldiers on because the coaching staff and selectors after two and a half years can’t tell you who is the next best hooker in the country and they can’t tell you who would be the next captain.
There is no succession plan to Smit, both as a player and a leader.
Jake White told the media a couple of months ago that in the absence of Smit he did not have a leader good enough within his squad to captain the Boks. At the time Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield, Juan Smith, Jean de Villiers, De Wet Barry and AJ Venter were in the squad. White said the second in line was Cats captain Wikus van Heerden.
White gave Van Heerden a belated call-up, but when Smit was rested for the World XV game the coach did not have the confidence to entrust the captaincy to Van Heerden. He picked him as an openside flank option, but gave the captaincy to De Villiers. It showed there was no succession plan in terms of the captaincy because Van Heerden was booted out of the squad and has failed to get another invite.
Of the hookers who have warmed the bench in test matches, Hanyani Shimange, Gary Botha and Danie Coetzee have accumulated 40-odd minutes, with Smit moving to prop to accommodate this meagre game time on most occasions.
The Bok management gave Shimange a start in the World XV match, but in official tests the longest he has played as a hooker is eight minutes against Wales in Cardiff. And even then White admitted at the post match press conference that he thought there was only two minutes left when he introduced Shimange and a host of other substitutes.
Asked if he would have made the changes had he known there was still eight minutes to go, White answered with an emphatic ‘no’.
To date White has been true to this sentiment, never giving Shimange more than two minutes in a test as a replacement hooker.
So we still don’t know who plays number two if Smit goes down because Shimange and Botha have both been axed and the latest bench warmer and tackle bag carrier is Chiliboy Ralepelle, the national under 21 captain.
Ralepelle is talented, but no coach is going to convince me that at this stage of his career Ralepelle is any stronger in the scrum than Schalk Brits, any more imposing than Brits or any more explosive than Brits. It remains a travesty that Brits’s talents have not been embraced.
There is a belief from the conspiracy theorists that White will not pick any hooker who could challenge Smit’s position. But in resisting quality back-up to Smit, the national selectors are doing their captain a disservice.
They are not aiding him by having plodders warm the bench. They are not putting him in a comfort zone. They are simply adding to his work load and pressure.
Smit this year has to be managed carefully. He has to be nursed through the next 15 months because he has become invaluable to the fabric of the current squad. He is what keeps them together.
Should he break down, which is very likely when you consider his workload, everything that White has built over the last two and a half years could give in as well.
And when it happens, the national coach, selectors and support staff need to take ownership of their decision to play him into the ground.
White uses the example of former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick to justify his decision to play Smit every weekend. But Fitzy was largely from the amateur era. In the modern test schedule no player can be expected to front three weekends in a row, let alone 28 tests in succession.
191 Comments
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6 Jul 2006, 12:38 pm
Capes, that must be a sight to see…..
6 Jul 2006, 12:40 pm
Oh and by the by…..
I know it is not uncommon in the Cape region for people to be riding someone’s back….but where I reside….that’s just not on……
6 Jul 2006, 12:42 pm
World peace,
Now let’s see……
6 Jul 2006, 12:46 pm
What can we do about rugby violence in the Cape region…..
And why is there a separate league RuggaSA(understandably a safety precaution), but should the new SA not be all about anti-segregation
6 Jul 2006, 12:46 pm
World peace starts at home…….
6 Jul 2006, 12:51 pm
Hmmm
Right answers my bru
6 Jul 2006, 12:56 pm
Always….
6 Jul 2006, 12:57 pm
tokolosi 150…..
A Sodum and Gomora on Boland…….
6 Jul 2006, 13:05 pm
Yes
Attrition does take its toll
i have played rugby for 18 years now and decided taht this year id have a break.
6 Jul 2006, 13:17 pm
Strange. You only 15!
6 Jul 2006, 13:21 pm
lol Dawn…..
6 Jul 2006, 13:27 pm
Wow, away for 10 days and come back to this!Hmmmmmm – whats up? Dawn do your thing and tell him off – where is bigg – need some intelligent feedback from our resident super model!
6 Jul 2006, 13:30 pm
A very well written article. Couldn’t agree more
6 Jul 2006, 13:30 pm
Never nothing, you know mos bokskoens……
6 Jul 2006, 14:06 pm
What is more importent? Playing for the sharks or for the boks?
Jake needs smith. We don’t have another leader in the bok 22.
26 games a year all good(13 s14/ 13tests)
Nothin wrong with that.
All the top boks must be contracted by sarfu. No need for curry cup any more. I know it’s sad.But till the money sucking dragons deside on tri nations every other year there’s no other choise.
Boks first, provincial team secound.
6 Jul 2006, 14:48 pm
and when it happens … we’ll get to see that Chilli is just a tourist.
6 Jul 2006, 15:10 pm
John Smit is already an accident. Jake you idiot, picke Gary at starting, Schalk on the bench and John as back-up with Chillyboy in the mix to get some experience. Now that I’m on the topic, pick Luke watson at 6 and Pierre Spies as 8, OS and CJ as the fat-ones and Bosman as 10.
6 Jul 2006, 15:25 pm
Skim, thats 4 hookers you’ve selected, we can only take 28 players on the plane.
6 Jul 2006, 15:39 pm
Please remind me how is JW stiffled by SARU in doing his Job as national coach … the Fat cats get blamed for far to much here … they easy scapegoats …
6 Jul 2006, 15:44 pm
the fatcats sit on their *** and talk crud, they are accountable to know one and do nothing…what a job, where does one apply?
6 Jul 2006, 15:47 pm
Cab specifics please … examples not sweeping generalisations …
I think it is really tired. Percy kicks bad and we blame transformation and the fat cats heading up rugby …
6 Jul 2006, 15:53 pm
After all these posts: Is Smittie now saved or what??
6 Jul 2006, 15:58 pm
Staal
My Maat – Hy is Gered
6 Jul 2006, 16:10 pm
Springboks don’t have a chance in hell of winning the 2006 Tri Nations, might as well start rotating players
6 Jul 2006, 16:15 pm
Richie you going to break hearts … don’t speak so loud …
6 Jul 2006, 16:19 pm
acquarius, when was the last time percy kicked bad?
i just fancy blaming the fatcats.
6 Jul 2006, 16:23 pm
Cab just like most of SA rugby you don’t make sense … reason and logic is not your friend
6 Jul 2006, 16:37 pm
fair comment aquarius, anarchy and mayhem are my pals, god save the *** pistols.
6 Jul 2006, 16:43 pm
Aquarius – it must be so cool to have the only brain in SA rugby……..especially with all that reason and logic.
6 Jul 2006, 16:46 pm
Nai doos I respect your logic too … selection based on performance on a PS2 game is a stroke of genius …
If only you were a selector
6 Jul 2006, 16:54 pm
Cab
The guys punting rotacrop forget the past disarray and amount of personal effort and support that guys like JW and Smittie put in to turn our rugby around.
We do need to bring young blood into our Boks, but every muppit is suddenly a press button export.
Keo gets a few things right too. As far as the rotation was concerned, JW would have been deballed by both the muppits and the PC 14 when we lost to the French. The fact is we have the same injury crisis that OZ had last year and the second tier players have not exactly shone.
Before I believe Smittie is part way to the knackers yard, I’d like to see the stats on how many games and minutes all the other international players have done. I’ll buy that rehab and conditioning are essential, but there’s not enough evidence to suggest that Burger’s break down was an accident waiting to happen.
In a similar vein, Percy is critical as is the injury prone Pretorius. They all need effective management and I doubt that Jake gets too much leeway from the results demand to toss a 3n and EOYT as experimental. given the support he gets from the players, I am quite sure he is acutely aware of their need for rest. I suspect Bakkies injury problems are long standing and are the reason why HM only played him for 60 minutes odd during the S14. credit to Jake and his team that he is prepared not to do the same.
6 Jul 2006, 17:07 pm
agree sarky
6 Jul 2006, 17:13 pm
what the F@ck is “hypercritical”? (even if there is a certain irony in me asking the question.)
Keo, sometimes a spellcheck just isn’t enough.
6 Jul 2006, 17:18 pm
and if Smit breaks down, we’ll have a great replacement hooker in chilliboy. He’s great for many reasons. i’ll list a few:
-he has a really cool name
-he’s not a shark
-he’s not schalk brits
-he’s a bloody good rugbyplayer
-the ANCYL will be over the moon with his inclusion (after they’re informed that he is, in fact, not indian)
ps: i never mentioned that he is a Bull.
but he is.
and they should all be bokke.
6 Jul 2006, 19:36 pm
“You only have to look at the Schalk Burger”
Note: Not just Schalk Burger, THE Schalk Burger!
What a legend!!! raak gou weer reg Schalla!!
7 Jul 2006, 07:33 am
check out this site
http://www.crimexposouthafrica.co.za
7 Jul 2006, 07:51 am
news just in,,mccaw is doubtful for 3N opener. head clash in early training. he will be re-assessed saturday morning.
7 Jul 2006, 08:31 am
Can’t make up my mind who’s currently the biggest waste of space in a Springbok pack – John Smit or Jacques Cronje.
7 Jul 2006, 08:40 am
Jacques Cronje
7 Jul 2006, 08:58 am
Keo is reg. Smit se kniee gaan kalf met al die oorgewig. Jake maak hom reg om oor te vat by Os….voor die wereldbeker?
7 Jul 2006, 09:34 am
Schalks injury was not an accident waiting to happen because of too much game time and lack of conditioning, it was an accident waiting to happen because of his reckless style of play (he is an extremely bad example for our youngsters out there). I dont particularly think Smittie has played more than the rest of the top teams hookers but they at least have built a good backup team where we have failed miserably in building depth.
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