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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25 Mar 2008, 04:25 am
More Pietman, i see you feel much more positive about your team. Bulls missed the bus this time. Are you also believing that Rassie is the real reason why the Stormers are picking up the pieces?
Ek dink hy ploeg met Fester se Kalwers
25 Mar 2008, 04:28 am
Whatever
Good to know you are not a quitter – esp with your place on the ladder ! Although your “klap every now and again” approach is kind of interesting … not one I recall anyone having told they experienced in rehab
Piet
RSA is not alone in looking the other way … We are all responsible. Martin Niemöller had it right :
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
25 Mar 2008, 04:30 am
Hehe RP, he does not have a “normal” addiction
25 Mar 2008, 04:31 am
Tomsta, where are you Boet? Talk me through Eden Park ………what happenned?
25 Mar 2008, 04:32 am
whatever
McBride is a gangster, and so are his top brass.
superBul
Yes, I think Stormers are on the up.
They shouldn’t have lost those first two games at home though.
The one at Newlands against the Bulls was there for the taking, but Peter Grant screwed it up.
I remember saying to Boerboel, who sat in the box with me, that if the Bulls played the way they did that day, they would get nowhere near a win on their overseas leg.
The Bulls simply cannot play these new rules, I saw it at Newlands already.
25 Mar 2008, 04:35 am
Whatever
I suspect you don’t either … so, do I get to “klap” some sense into you too ?
25 Mar 2008, 04:39 am
Feel free RP, if you think it nessesary! I’m just buggered if I’m going to let those comments go by without drawing to his attention his boring repetition. We all know his feelings about the subject. If I have to become boring in the process then so be it…
25 Mar 2008, 04:43 am
Whatever
Take heart – you are amusing with it (usually) & we all need to have a passion for something !
I need to you to come here & sort my housekeeper out … she is the worlds WORST housekeeper & yet I don’t have the gumption to fire her
Which is exactly what needs doing !
25 Mar 2008, 04:47 am
whatever,
we do not speak of Uli time for Tvl
Pietman,
yes, Uli is not far, he left SA because of the change in politics. I can still remember him back in ’93 coming out and saying “Blacks don’t play rugby”
classic
25 Mar 2008, 04:48 am
mmmmmm, RP, with “pleasure”. I’m called the “Hatchet Man” at work as those jobs always seem to land on my desk……
25 Mar 2008, 04:51 am
greatest
Yes, Uli and Sonia (also a doctor) are in Oz now, left for safety reasons.
The used to practise in ‘The Village’, near Menlo Park, not far from where I lived.
25 Mar 2008, 04:53 am
whatever,
they call us “big brother” at my work
25 Mar 2008, 04:53 am
More almal, Pete not sure he is around here…
25 Mar 2008, 04:54 am
Koos
I think he is in Brisbane.
25 Mar 2008, 04:55 am
Pietman,
cheers for the update, so I gather he is your doctor??
wonder if he still has that short fuse?
25 Mar 2008, 04:57 am
I’ll check then.
25 Mar 2008, 04:58 am
Koos/Gerber
Uli is in Warnervale, asst coach and medical consultant to the ‘Wildcats’.
Koos, Warnervale in Brissie, no?
25 Mar 2008, 05:00 am
nope Pete, does not ring a bell. Only Wildcats I know is the Perth Wildcats…basketball team?!
25 Mar 2008, 05:01 am
Just asked my friend old Googles…
Warnervale is a rapidly growing town in the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies approximately 95 km north of the Sydney CBD, located west of Tuggerah Lake, a large shallow coastal lake, and just north of Wyong
25 Mar 2008, 05:02 am
Koos
I just ‘googled’ Uli He has his own wbsite!).
He lives in Kanwal, NSW, where he practises sports medicine.
Guess it is near Sydney then.
25 Mar 2008, 05:02 am
‘wildcats’ ?
25 Mar 2008, 05:03 am
118# Koos
OK.
No we know where Uli hangs out.
25 Mar 2008, 05:05 am
Well there you go.
25 Mar 2008, 05:05 am
121# ‘Now we know….’
25 Mar 2008, 05:05 am
Whatever
I started to fire her just before Chinese New Year but by the end of the conversation I had given her a holiday & a bonus
25 Mar 2008, 05:07 am
cheers Pietman,
I ask Google van Heerden as well
25 Mar 2008, 05:07 am
Couple of photies of Uli on the Warnervale rugby site.
25 Mar 2008, 05:08 am
You softy RP
25 Mar 2008, 05:12 am
Hey evryone! All over the shock and dissapointment of the wk/nd?
RP
You must’ve had a terrible shock when your picks came thru? But don’t get too excited, you know what they say about the blind squirrel?
Boyz
Praat julle van Uli die boelie!
25 Mar 2008, 05:12 am
126# whatever
Nice, aren’t they?
Uli is a legend, so was the late old Louis, the original Blue Bull.
(I walked past his house in Stanford Bay the other day, same street as my brother’s.)
25 Mar 2008, 05:13 am
Bok
The Stormers are OK still, no worries ek se.
25 Mar 2008, 05:17 am
Molefe
They need to win in Perth. Non-negotiable. From there, their toughest assignment will be Hurricanes and Waratahs at home. But a win in Perth is a must.
25 Mar 2008, 05:20 am
Greatest2Schmidt
25 Mar 2008, 05:21 am
WP are gone for the season..much like my side
25 Mar 2008, 05:23 am
Can’t say much about Uli. My childhood heroes were Peter Jooste, Irvin October and ‘Spoekie’ September et al. Would’ve liked to see Naas Botha and September go head to head. If I had to pick, it would be September, just because he could tackle as well.
But with the boot they were both prolific. IMHO.
25 Mar 2008, 05:24 am
Whatever
But she still managed to make me feel sorry for her … feck 
Well, she started to tell me how I was her ONLY customer now … blah blah blah … Frankly given her “talent” I am not surprised – my antique furniture will never be the same again following her “ministrations”
BokiNZ
Cheeky brat ! Did you consider that I may have followed my own hunches instead of listening to a bunch of boys for a change ?
25 Mar 2008, 05:26 am
BokiNZ
They are not going to win in Perth … Last year they lost to WF 22-3 in RSA ! What has changed so dramatically since then ?
25 Mar 2008, 05:27 am
#134
Irvin October
25 Mar 2008, 05:28 am
Greatest, WP do not play in the S14. Live in the present dude. The Stormers however, are still in with a shout
25 Mar 2008, 05:30 am
G13G
) and only Hurricanes, Waratahs and Force should be challenging! Pls note, I said SHOULD be…! As for the Bulls, well, not even Ludeke knows how they’re going to go! At least, he remains positive, albeit a bit comical.
Stormers are still in it, of that there is no doubt! They’ve played all the tough sides already (apart from the Bulls, of course!
25 Mar 2008, 05:31 am
#138
more like a whisper
25 Mar 2008, 05:33 am
Whispering louder than the Bulls “snort” boet!!
25 Mar 2008, 05:34 am
Rp
Let me put it this way. Lst yr the Bulls totaly annihilated the Reds in Pta 92-3 and this season lost to the same side 40-8. Moral of the story….that is sooooo last year!!
25 Mar 2008, 05:34 am
Oh, greatest, remind me of the log positions of the STORMERS and the heffers again!!
25 Mar 2008, 05:38 am
I do not find it fair all these daggers pointing in Ludeke back. It is indeed sad.
25 Mar 2008, 05:39 am
#134 Howzit BokiNZ. Never saw those dudes, so can’t comment unfortunately. Is that not the kak thing about our SA past??
25 Mar 2008, 05:40 am
#143
no comment
25 Mar 2008, 05:42 am
Come now Greatest, he is a kak coach. period. Just look at his record. He is given a s14 Champion side and look what happens. Sure the players have to take some blame, but hey it all ends up at the coaches door eventully!
25 Mar 2008, 05:42 am
Now whatever! Be nice! No need to be condescending!! G13G can’t help it if his S14 champion side are utter drivel who will even struggle to get a result at home! Normaly they are **** on their away leg and good at home but NORMALY HM would be their coach. And he’s not there to hold their hands. Maybe he knew the paw-paw was going to hit the fan this season!
25 Mar 2008, 05:45 am
eventully? …….jeez that was poor
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