RUGBY
Smit's 'fresh new start'
Posted Wed, 04 Jun 2008

South Africa will carry the tag as 'World Cup winners' with them for the next four years, which is a nice title to have. However, John Smit and his Springboks are ready to move on and write a new chapter, on an even better era for Bok rugby.

Speaking ahead of South Africa's first Test under new Bok coach Peter de Villiers, when they face Six Nations champions Wales in Bloemfontein on Saturday, Smit said it almost feels like when he made his debut back in 2000.

"It's exciting to start all over again," Smit said of the new coaching panel of De Villiers (head coach), forwards coach Gary Gold and backline assistant Dick Muir.

"I think the excitement comes from the changes in [coaching] leadership, but the mission remains the same in terms of being successful for South Africa, so it is a fresh new start.

"You could tell from the [training] sessions as well, there is as sort of bubbliness amongst the guys and the intensity is certainly up there - without even asking for it."

The Bok captain said it was "wonderful" to be called the World Cup holders, but felt that the sooner they get past it and move on the better for Bok rugby.

"We have the responsibility of taking care of what we have in front of us this next four years," Smit said.

"I have seen something amongst the players that hasn't been there in France or perhaps in the last four years and we need to try and take us much from that as possible and use that to our advantage. I think if we rest on our laurels because of what has happened a few months ago [in France], we could find ourselves going in the wrong direction."

The Bok captain admitted there is a "vast difference" between the current crop and when Jake White took over four years ago.

"We came to Bloemfontein four years ago [to face Ireland], being in a position where it could not get any worse for South Africa rugby," he said of a time when the Boks were ranked sixth in the world after being knocked out of the quarterfinals of the World Cup the year before.

This week when the Boks face the Welsh in Bloemfontein they will do so as the top-ranked team on the International Rugby Board (IRB) standings.

"The responsibility and the onus lies with us to keep the standard that has been achieved and go beyond that,," Smit said, adding: "As much as we've had a reasonable amount of success in that period, it us up to us to take responsibility ourselves and make sure we can raise the bar even higher.

"What we do have in our favour is momentum."

He admitted that the expectations from the public would be high, but was confident they would be up for the task.

"Being the best is always difficult," he admitted. "That's why we work hard and try and stick to the things that keep us at that level.

"The expectations are there every day and that is not going to go away, its just going to get bigger and bigger. The expectation is only driven by what we have done in the past. We're a proud rugby nation and that is certainly where we want to stay."

365