|
 5/9/07
John Smit tells Keo in the Independent
Newspapers that the World Cup Springboks
will not stumble under the weight of
expectation.
Springbok teams of recent vintage have
struggled to cope with being favourites and
generally have reserved their best
performances when written off as no-hopers.
But Smit said there would be no implosion
for the Boks in Paris, believing the squad
of 2007 to be a class above their 2003
predecessors and arguably the best Bok squad
since the 1995 World Cup winners.
“I have been to a World Cup where no-one
gave us a chance and we didn’t give
ourselves a chance. It was a case of just
wanting to get the thing over with four
years ago. Our backs were to the wall when
we arrived in Australia in 2003 and we
weren’t good enough or well enough prepared
to fight our way out of it. That’s a
different pressure to the one we are feeling
now,” said Smit.
“This time the expectation from our support
base is that we are good enough to win the
tournament. That’s an awesome space to be in
and the players want to feed off that
positive energy.
“I certainly don’t feel burdened by the
public’s expectation. I think it is more
accurate to say we’re honoured that South
Africans believe we are among the best teams
at the tournament.”
The Springboks will be the only team based
in the city in the first month of the
tournament, and Smit described this as an
advantage to the emotional well-being of the
players.
“Paris is one of the great cities and
culturally a brilliant place. I would have
hated to be holed up an hour out of the city
and have an insular build-up. We spoke about
embracing the culture and the people and as
a squad we all believe that the best
approach is to see the next two months as a
life adventure.
“I know that this tournament will define all
of us. We will either be remembered as
champions or just another Springbok team at
the World Cup. I’ve been the latter in 2003
and it’s awful. I aspire to bigger things
than what was produced in 2003 and those
other members who were also in Australia in
2003 feel they have unfinished business.
“Guys like Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield
are rightly regarded as the best lock
combination in the world and the next two
months gives them the biggest stage on which
to showcase their talents.
“Jake’s (White) message to the squad was to
live the campaign and leave Paris better
players and better people. He told us he
didn’t want us to have a clichéd attitude
that we would die for the campaign. He said
he wanted us to live it because that would
mean we’d have to accept the consequence of
whatever we did.”
Smit, who will captain the side after a
three-month injury lay-off, said the players
were prepared for the physicality of the
Samoans. England, their opponents five days
later, would only be a consideration on
Sunday evening.
“We have to beat Samoa first and then we can
think about England. The short turnaround
between Samoa and England is going to
challenge us and we’ve spoken about the
dangers of playing Samoa but thinking about
England. Our attention has to be on Samoa.
We know they’re always capable of one big
game at the World Cup.
“They are a team that thrives on early
momentum at the World Cup and we can’t allow
this on Sunday. We’ve always had good
results against them, but I’ve never known
an easy game against them. It will be
physical and uncompromising, but it will be
the perfect introduction to the event
because our boys will know they’ve been in a
game.”
The Springboks, captained by Smit but
fielding the core of their second string
squad, beat Samoa 35-13 at Ellis Park
earlier in the year. The Boks also hammered
Samoa at the 2003 World Cup.
MARK KEOHANE |
keo.co.za | Wednesday, 5 September 2007 |
Comment on this article |
