Super Smitty shines again
24 Mar 2008
John Smit maintained his impressive return to form as Clermont edged within a point of table-topping Toulouse in the French Top 14.
Smit’s form and that of Springbok fullback Percy Montgomery will no doubt please Springbok coach Peter de Villiers. Smit will captain the Boks this year and De Villiers met with Montgomery two months ago to discuss his international future. Both players have responded positively to the new Bok coach’s interest and Smit’s form, in particular, will bring a smile to De Villiers, who won’t have taken much comfort from the first six weeks of South African Super rugby performances.
Smit, speaking to Keo.co.za, said he had fully recovered from the knee injury that sidelined him for six weeks and that being back at peak fitness was critical to his recent performances.
“The mind is strong but equally important is that the body has to be strong. I am feeling really good at the moment, enjoying my rugby and the team is getting good results. I’ve now had six successive matches and in each one the knee has felt better and with each week I have felt I’ve made a bigger contribution to the team.”
Smit said he watched as much Super 14 rugby as possible and was in constant contact with players in South Africa.
“I am following the Sharks very closely and I’ve seen what’s been televised here. The competition seems to be settling down now and despite results not always going the way of the South African teams I still think there has been some very good rugby played by South African sides. Individually there has also been good performances, so I am very optimistic about the international season.”
Smit also singled out Clermont teammate and former Springbok centre Marius Joubert’s performances this season as being special.
“For me he has been the form centre in the competition and consistently the best in France. He has a huge desire to play for the Springboks again and the change of pace in lifestyle seems to have been good for his game. He is playing outstanding rugby.”
Clermont hammered Montpellier 56-17 to consolidate second position in the league, while Montgomery’s outstanding goalkicking has lifted Perpignan into fifth place.
Montgomery kicked three conversions and four penalties in the 45-7 win against Albi.
Toulouse remain top of the table, despite sending a second team to play Stade Francais in Paris, where they got smashed 29-0.
Results of Round 15
Biarritz vs Brive, 10-0
Bourgoin vs Auch, 36-0
Castres vs Montauban, 21-7
Dax vs Bayonne, 11-6
Perpignan vs Albi, 45-7
Clermont Auvergne vs Montpellier, 56-17
Stade Français vs Toulouse, 29-0
Standings after Round 15
1. Toulouse 58
2. Clermont 57
3. Stade Francais 44
4. Biarritz 41
5. Perpignan 40
6. Castres 40
7. Montauban 35
8. Bourgoin 34
9. Bayonne 33
10. Montpellier 30
11. Brive 27
12. Albi 25
13. Dax 20
14. Auch 10
206 Comments
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24 Mar 2008, 21:42 pm
Skop
49-0 behind infighting, political games, mediocre assistants and no flyhalf for 3 of his 4 years
SA did not have quality in the backs then, now we have a flyhalf problem or a problem not playing the same guy there regularly
By the way how is my friend charo?
24 Mar 2008, 21:46 pm
The Boks had a great first 15, but terrible backup players
Albert vd Berg, Wynand Olivier, Gary Botha, DH, etc
24 Mar 2008, 21:49 pm
jl1,
I’m very well thanks mate – how is chilly london?
still contemplating oz?
skoppie and i had a great chat this evening – knows his rugby – no doubt at all.
always good to meet up face to face with the cyber bloggers – must be my age!
24 Mar 2008, 22:00 pm
PDV needs to keep the previous team intact
he then needs to blood and prepare the ruans etc for the future
to make whole sale changes would be ludacrous
most of that WC team is young so why throw away winners???
seriously we would be as normal
the laughing stock of the world
24 Mar 2008, 22:04 pm
F. B. – Kirchner, Jantjes, Terblanche, Percy. (2 bl. 2 wt.)
Wings – Habana, JP, Chavanga, Nokwe, Passens. (5 bl)
Centres – Steyn, Jacobs, Jdv, Fourie, Murray, la Grange, Bosman, Julies, J.Pretorius, van Schalkwyk, Grant. (3 bl, 8 wt.)
Fly Halves – JL Potgieter, Grant, Pienaar, Van Schalkwyk, Butch, Dolly (1 bl, 5 wt.)
Scrum halves – Fdp, Vermaak, Kockott, Adams, January, Bolla, Pienaar. (3 bl, 4 wt.)
8th man – Vermeulen, van Niekerk, Kankowski, Burger, Spies, D. Potgieter, Wannenberg, Lobberts. (1 bl, 7 wt.)
Flanks – Burger, Smith, Watson, Brussouw, Wikus, Grobbelaar, Botes, Floors, Louw. (1 bl, 8 wt.)
locks – Botha, Bekker, Matfield, Roussouw, Skeate, AJ. (6 wt.)
Props – Heinke, Beast, Mujati, Geldenhuis, BJ, CJ, Gurthro, J.dup (3 bl. 5 wt.)
Hooker’s – Bismark, Liebenberg, Wessels, Weppener, Brits, Chilliboy, Smit. (1 bl, 6 wt.)
That is a whole lot of potentially international class rugby players, give any decent international coach a selection of players like that and they should be able to create 3 not 1 world class sides from such abundant talent.
24 Mar 2008, 22:12 pm
Yes was very good to meet with Charo a great guy and a first class gentleman, its great to know such first class people of substance abound on this here blog.
Charo is tops JL
24 Mar 2008, 22:15 pm
Nice to know that the rendezvous went well down in the south.
24 Mar 2008, 22:23 pm
Thanks to the Linx man Jinx da Lynx.
Ty minstrel man.
24 Mar 2008, 22:29 pm
Skop, you can’t be serious. AJ cannot be in the run for any position anymore!! The rest I agree with.
24 Mar 2008, 22:33 pm
AJ is verby.
24 Mar 2008, 22:43 pm
Lekker Jinx!!
Goodnight to all
24 Mar 2008, 22:44 pm
Ok pick another lock, I just threw him in there as an old was horse warrior, but I agree he’s probably fought his last battle a while ago, though Jake kept Os whipping along till 36 and so too Ackerman till 37.
24 Mar 2008, 22:46 pm
we know we have the talent but most of those4 players not ready for the big time
we have seen that so many times
24 Mar 2008, 22:47 pm
as far as i know it aj retired from international rugby so he is out anyhows
24 Mar 2008, 22:49 pm
eish the sharks squad is looking good
also no injuries except adi has a slight calf strain
this could be a huge factor for the sharks not having injuries
24 Mar 2008, 22:51 pm
would love to know what team **** is going to choose for saturday
24 Mar 2008, 22:52 pm
night night bb / jinx
24 Mar 2008, 23:03 pm
Flyhalf my biggest worry now that it seems that Matfield, Smit and maybe Percy are secured.
Reckon PDV should just secure Butch for another season.
Trouble is PDV likes Peter Grant. I like him too but he needs to do more to play for the Boks.
Apart from the above and our world beaters we have plenty of depth I think.
24 Mar 2008, 23:17 pm
skopskiet
Nice extended squad.
Locks -> You have left off (accidentally) Muller – The current 2nd choice lock)
AJ has retired from international rugby
24 Mar 2008, 23:27 pm
Sorry Biscuit, Muller just doesn’t cut it for me, I’d rather play with a big loosie like Vermeulen or van Niekerk or even Smith, Lobberts or Wannenberg at lock than go with Muller.
I think in the modern game and especially if Elv’s are here to stay, I’d most definitely choose mobility and toughness ahead of height
24 Mar 2008, 23:33 pm
gges skopskiet muller is more mobile then aj right now
and more mobile the bakkies
24 Mar 2008, 23:50 pm
I agree about their lack of mobility Bakkies and AJ but they make up with grunt, Muller has neither imo, anyway I would like a combo of one outright line out man like Bekker or Matfield and one fire and brimstone man, and because we have so many big loosies available I may opt for an extra loosie in the mix rather than 3 or 4 locks.
Bekker / Roussouw is not a bad option at 4 and 5, and then can pick van Niekerk and Vermeulen at 8 or cover at lock. Best of all worlds mobility and fire for Africa. Still got Kanko and Spies to choose for 8, what about Wannenberg, Smith, just too many tall loosies who could add speed and mobility to second row, then can pick real fetcher’s at 6 and 7, Burger, Brussouw, Watson, Floors, Botes, Grobbelaar. Just too many options available.
25 Mar 2008, 00:00 am
The two Potgieter’s at 8 and 10, Dewald and Jean Louis, these are two boys to look out for, stars in the making if the coaches don’t stuff them up, same with Brussouw and Vermeulen, the talent here is frightening.
I am convinced you can take the entire WC team away and we still left with more than enough talent to become world beater’s in a short while with the correct strategies and coaching.
25 Mar 2008, 00:02 am
Hey guys
Skop
I also can’t fault your squad except Muller. He is pretty mobile and does the donkeywork pretty well. Imo. And there’s one other thing. We need to groom someone to take the mantle from Smit one day. Can’t see any candidates standing out except maybe Watson but don’t know if that will happen or the rest of the players will accept him, which leaves only Muller
25 Mar 2008, 00:08 am
And with the abundance at loosies, not a given that Watson will be selected. But it is interesting to hear about Smittie and Percy and Vic doing well and committing to the national cause. But a strange omission so far is Butch. And its the one position we are particularly thin as far as candidates goes. PdV should get him to commit or did he already?
25 Mar 2008, 00:13 am
I like Wikus or Watson as captaincy material BokiNZ. Always have even before when Smit was captain I thought Wikus would be a fine captain, and because Watson’s character has been hung out to dry by JW and cronies, that has made it far more difficult now to groom him for captain, but captaincy material he has in his head and on his shoulders in abundance.
25 Mar 2008, 00:13 am
Also feel that NZRU is going to alter its stance on their int players playing overseas depending on the success of the Bokteam this yr. Might be wishfull thinking with not a single int shot fired as yet but if the Boks dominate this yr we might see Hayman and co back in the fold nxt season.
25 Mar 2008, 00:17 am
Anyway I been bugging away far too long on here now, time to hit the hay stack.
So long.
25 Mar 2008, 00:20 am
Uhmmm…. Wikus! Don’t know if you would want your cpt playing the fetcher in todays rugby. McCaw is lucky in the sense that he hasn’t been sinbinned more often but the times he had to leave it was always touch and go for his team. Same might apply to Watson but somehow he seems to avoid being binned. Might be the 4inches between the ears
25 Mar 2008, 00:42 am
“Smit’s form, in particular, will bring a smile to De Villiers, who won’t have taken much comfort from the first six weeks of South African Super rugby performances”
I disagree, i think he will be happy with the amount of players that have put their hands up for international selection, especially new players, and especially at hooker. (Brits, Liebenburg, Du Plessis, Wepener, Kuun), all these SA Hookers have been playing outsandingly well and are definately the form S14 hookers, maybe Mealamu may be up there as well
25 Mar 2008, 01:01 am
Smit’s got experience, form and on top of it, he is an inspirational leader. The hookers above realy only got form on their side and you can put inconsistent next to anyone of them. Liebenberg and Wepener most probably the pick of ‘em. That’s in all the probablility why PdV is smiling.
25 Mar 2008, 01:48 am
#49 Doos
25 Mar 2008, 03:34 am
Kaapstad. – Oregan Hoskins, president van die Suid-Afrikaanse Rugbyunie (Saru), is nie gereed om die deur na die Springbok-span onvoorwaardelik oop te maak vir spelers wat hul heil oorsee soek nie.
Hoskins sê die getal spelers moet op dieselfde wyse beperk word as toe Jake White die Bok-afrigter was.
“Dis iets wat ons op die volgende vergadering van die presidentsraad sal bespreek.
“Ek dink nie ons moet meer as twee spelers kies wat oorsee gesetel is nie,” sê Hoskins.
Die Springbok-afrigter, Peter de Villiers, het reeds aangekondig John Smit sal sy kaptein wees.
Smit, onder wie se leierskap Suid-Afrika die Wêreldbeker-toernooi in Frankryk gewen het, speel vir die Franse klub Clermont.
SA Rugby sal egter probeer om hom na Suid-Afrika terug te bring.
De Villiers het ook gesprekke met die Bok-slot Victor Matfield gevoer.
Matfield speel vir Toulon in die Franse tweede liga, maar sy kontrak verstryk binnekort en hy kan hom weer by die Blou Bulle aansluit.
Ander spelers wat in die Bokke se beginspan in die eindstryd van die Wêreldbeker-toernooi in aksie was en tans oorsee speel, is die heelagter Percy Montgomery en die losskakel Butch James?.
25 Mar 2008, 03:54 am
More Boys
Whatever i see you didn’t waste anytime expanding your vocabulary over the weekend
JS is very highly thought of by non-Saffas as a Captain, a rugger b*gger & a man.
25 Mar 2008, 03:59 am
I’m glad you noticed JS is a man RP
Skoppy with get the doos treatment by me whenever he harps on ad nausem about JW and 49-0
25 Mar 2008, 04:01 am
Was it just a coincidence that his post was #49??
25 Mar 2008, 04:01 am
Morning RP just a little update on Zimbabwe, you were lucky to see that country, its becoming more and more dificult there by the minute. Not a place to be for the next few weeks, with Saturdays election coming up
Not even time for a last shopping spree…
Zim a shoppers paradise…
Mar 24 2008 9:09PM
Harare – Want to shop till you drop in shortage-riddled Zimbabwe? You can at a supermarket near President Robert Mugabe’s retirement mansion.
The packed aisles of the Borrowdale Brooke Spar supermarket show none of the empty shelves most Zimbabweans have got used to in the months following last year’s price blitz.
In this exclusive store set amid the rolling hills and huge mansions of the north of Harare, shoppers can choose from a selection of luxury goods unthinkable in the city’s townships.
Luxury comes at a price though.
A jar of black olives costs Z$375m this weekend, an entire monthly salary for a teacher. Mugabe promised teachers earlier this month that they would get huge salary hikes. But some teachers say they discovered last week that they had been paid just the same as last month: on average, around Z$370m.
There are tiger prawns for sale in this store, at more than Z$1bn a packet. That’s the amount candidates for this Saturday’s presidential election had to deposit when they were registering their applications to vote.
A chicken – rarely seen in shop freezers in Zimbabwe – costs Z$208m here. Reports say officers for the state Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) last month got paid just Z$10m per day.
Opposition will ‘never ever’ win
The luxury doesn’t end there. At an exclusive lingerie boutique in the same complex as Spar, shoppers can choose from Calvin Klein or Dolce and Gabbana designer underwear.
Not for wealthy shoppers the cheap Chinese clothes sold on city flea-markets or the second-hand goods smuggled into the country by the bale-full.
Borrowdale Brookes Western-style shopping experience is in stark contrast to a supermarket in Harare’s central Sam Nujoma Street. Here, on Easter Monday, there’s no chicken, no milk, no cooking oil, no cheese, no flour and – most worryingly – no sign of the staple maize-meal.
Borrowdale Brooke Spar franchise is reportedly owned by a top ruling ZANU-PF party official who appears not to have to worry about recent threats to jail those charging high prices.
25 Mar 2008, 04:04 am
#5
“John Smit is a truly great Springbok and a truly great Springbok Captain. The Boks will need a man of his stature this year.”
lets not get carried away..and for the record, IMO, he is an average test player BUT great captain though..ala Pienaar.
25 Mar 2008, 04:05 am
Uli is the greatest bok hooker ever
25 Mar 2008, 04:08 am
I thought Uli played wing?
25 Mar 2008, 04:11 am
superBul
Morning.
Yes, and not so long we had a blogger here who stated that Zim had enough food to feed the RSA!
Remember that one, during the Proteas tour last year?
But very worrying indeed, this Zim business, for the whole region.
I have started to shy away over here from trying to answer questions about Zim and SA anymore.
It is here on the telly news daily.
25 Mar 2008, 04:12 am
Whatever
Be the bigger man then & engage him on another topic ! I am sure it was a coincidence.
Yes, JS is well noticed as being a “manly man” by my half of the species
SuperBul
Oohh shame ! I adored the place when I was there. It had an exquisite natural beauty in it’s countryside, animals & art works (of which I shipped back many) & delightful people everywhere you turned.
I was aware that my friends were wealthy white folks (it was hard not to) but they really did look after their staff very well. The wife was a kiwi girl & when they left found all the staff employment with good families who vowed to look after their new employees as well as she had done.
25 Mar 2008, 04:15 am
Imagine the stories this 14 tourists will tell back at home. Cant see how people still want to come here. The little town Origstad is 60km from my hometown, scary stuff.
This will be my last post from the news papers , i will rather talk about the Bulls 70th birthday yesterday.
Tourists hear frantic
cries for help
24/03/2008 23:06 – (SA)
Hilda Fourie, Beeld
Ohrigstad – Police have stepped up their search for kidnapped Hennielene Botha, 46, after a group of foreign tourists heard a woman’s cries for help coming from the boot of a car.
That was while Hennielene’s suspected abductors were robbing the tourists after their vehicle had broken down near Graskop.
Cor Cross, a member of the Ohrigstad Farmers’ Union, told Beeld that they would be concentrating their search efforts in the Graskop area.
Police spokesperson Armand de Beer said the vehicle in which the 14 tourists – from Britain, Canada and the US – were travelling, broke down near Graskop.
Three robbers
A car stopped and three men – armed with what is believed to have been shotguns and a hunting rifle – robbed them of money, cameras and cellphones.
That’s when they heard shouts coming from the boot.
After the robbers had left, the tourists had contracted the police and given them a description of the car and its registration number.
It was Hennielene Botha’s silver Toyota Corolla, registration number BMN 559 L. It’s suspected that her kidnappers had bundled her into the car’s boot.
De Beer said scores of police as well as residents were taking part in the search for Hennielene.
Hennielene’s husband Albert, 53, earlier said he was trying to remain positive.
“But, deep inside, you start worrying.”
Hennielene was kidnapped on their farm on Saturday night. They own Iketla Lodge about 7km from Ohrigstad.
Heard car being driven
25 Mar 2008, 04:16 am
RP, I’m not engaging him, just pointing out his fallbacks. He is like a druggie in rehab, he needs a klap every now and again to get him to concentrate and look you in the eye. Except, I think he is beyond redemption. But, I’ll keep trying..
25 Mar 2008, 04:16 am
Hello RP
Even if Mad Bob loses this election and we see a new government in Zim soon, the damage this lunatic has done to the country is irreparable.
The tragedy of it all is that we as South Africans stood idly by and let it all happen….
25 Mar 2008, 04:17 am
#89
well, he had the skills of a wing and a flyhalf
I think Naas was a bit annoyed with some of Uli antics at times
25 Mar 2008, 04:20 am
superBul
Illegal immigrants become a threat in those parts. And with the likes of Charles, McBride and Selebi running safety and security affairs, don’t expect order soon.
Our police are rather targeting student pubs now!
25 Mar 2008, 04:20 am
g13g, did’nt Uli play his best Rugger in the White and Red?
25 Mar 2008, 04:21 am
greatest
Uli is not far from you these days, is it Brisbane or Sydney where he set up practice recently?
25 Mar 2008, 04:23 am
Howzit Pietman, jeez I read a radical article about McBride today. Bloody lunatic that man! Should have known when he bombed Magu’s Bar that he was a rubbish!
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