Smit to lead Boks, Rassie to help
2 May 2011
Peter de Villiers has confirmed that John Smit will captain the Springboks at the World Cup and that Rassie Erasmus has come on board as technical adviser.
The Bok coach called a press conference on Monday to confirm the appointments of his captain and management staff. Smit will continue as captain with Victor Matfield named as vice-captain. Erasmus has been brought in as a technical adviser and conditioning coach Derik Coetzee is the other new appointment.
That Smit and Matfield will continue in their leadership roles comes as no surprise. Despite the Boks’ shocking run in 2010, it was always expected that De Villiers would persist with his two most experienced players in a tournament as important as the World Cup.
Whether the continued backing of two aging stars will impact negatively on South Africa’s effort in New Zealand is up for debate, and has been up for debate since mid-2010. In fact, the only new and potentially encouraging bit of news to come out of Monday’s press conference was the appointments of Erasmus and Coetzee.
Erasmus has held the post before, having helped the Boks ahead of their 2007 World Cup campaign. He turned down the opportunity to go to the tournament itself because it conflicted with his new commitment as senior professional coach at Western Province.
‘Rassie is passionate and detailed and he’s what we need,’ said De Villiers. ‘Derik will deal with the measurables on the conditioning side, while Rassie will deal with the measurables on the coaching side.’
De Villiers added that the planning camp held over the past two days has been positive, and that Erasmus and Coetzee have already offered some much needed energy and input.
‘You know, you can’t do these kinds of things on street corners. We looked at what we need to do to be successful at the World Cup, and conditioning is a very important area. We also looked at areas like coaching, and obviously Rassie can help in this respect.’
Having worked with both coaches in the build up to the 2007 World Cup, Smit welcomed their appointments.
‘I know both of them pretty well, and I think they will inject some new energy and ideas. Doc Coetzee is the kind of guy that works you hard and has a real eye for detail. And then Rassie is a guy who can provide sublime input in terms of technical stats.
‘Rassie played a big part in our preparation in 2007, and it was a shame he could not come along for the whole ride.’
This will be Smit’s second World Cup campaign as captain. He admitted that over the last year or so, he’s had his doubts about being selected for a tournament that will double as the Springboks’ world title defence.
‘It was much easier last time when we had visions of grandeur and were hoping for the best,’ said Smit. ‘Now it’s about retaining the title, which will be a far greater challenge.
‘I think that being criticised is all part of being a senior player. You are around for a while so all the attention is on you more often than not. I know it’s going to be a challenge, but it will be about hitting form and playing well when it counts.’
103 Comments
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2 May 2011, 21:19 pm
@grant10(grant10)-92: Bissy, runs a farm with is brother and he has a brokerage business and plays for the Sharks
I will be very surprised if he will run considering he will be number one in SA bar politics
3 May 2011, 06:29 am
Think about it from an opposition’s perspective. Would you rather see a Bok team about to play you with John Smit and Victor Matfield starting or Bismark and Bekker starting? I hope for the Bok’s sake that PDV is going to play Bekker and Matfield together, because then its not so bad, but I really wouldn’t be surprised to see him play Matfield with an enforcer style lock, even though Bekker is better at enforcing then all the enforcers right now! John Smit is just a joke, he doesn’t even deserve to be in the Sharks, why is he leading the Boks?!?!?!? A captain must be in the team first and foremost for his playing ability. If you are depriving a player who is considered to be the best in the world at that position, with a guy who at best is about the 7th best in his own country, 3rd in his province on merit, You would be considered mad. Anyone remember Rhuben “suitcase” Thorne of the all blacks, a supposed amazing skipper, who’s leadership qualities made him undroppable, despite plenty of better players in the wings, well that experiment didn’t work and no other example in the past has either. HUGE MISTAKE.
3 May 2011, 09:38 am
anyone remember francois pienaar? he was not the best in his position. but was the best captain in kitch’s mind.
anyone remember gary teichman? he was considered no longer good enough to start at 8, and got dropped before WC in 1999. Mallet to this day still reckons its the biggest mistake he ever made.
sure taking Smit is the conservative option. but we’re south african’s and conservative works for us.
Bissie will be there too. who we pick at 2 is not likely to determine whether we win the world cup. there are a lot more factors than that to consider.
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