Smit's condition offers great encouragement

There was a lot of talk coming out of Durban during the latter stage of last year about the hard work that Springbok captain John Smit was putting in to get himself into the right condition for the World Cup year.

Smit’s evident lack of condition was a big talking point during the disastrous 2010 Tri-Nations campaign, and it led to a situation where critics were wondering whether it was time for him to step aside. My own view at the time was that we should wait and see if he would put in the work necessary to get himself back to full fitness.

After all, it was not entirely Smit’s fault that he was carrying extra kilograms – the ill-fated and hopelessly overplayed experiment with him as a tighthead prop made it necessary for him to change shape.

My argument was that in an era where the management team needs to take direction from the strong personalities in the playing group, Smit remained an important part of the squad, and maybe he is even indispensible.

It wouldn’t make sense for him to continue playing in the condition and form he was in for most of the last international season. But were he to make the effort to shed the kilograms and get himself back to his best fighting weight, then it would at least answer the big question about his continued hunger for the Bok job and his desire to win another World Cup.

A colleague suggested that the title for a column I wrote on the subject last year should have read “Get into shape or ship out”. Well, the good news is he appears to have "shaped up" and that all the talk about the hard work Smit has put in since recovering from an operation last September is more than just hype. Talk is cheap, so seeing is believing – and a glimpse of Smit as he walked past the window of the Virgin Active gym in La Lucia just after Christmas was enough to convince me.

The man is looking trimmer and fitter than he has in ages, maybe even since before the last World Cup, for people tend to forget that he spent much of 2007 crocked by an injury that made him a doubtful starter right up until the team’s departure for France.

We will only know once the season starts and Smit starts playing, but he certainly looks in good enough condition to return to his sharpest form. Of course, there is the question of where he will be accommodated in the team, for Bismarck du Plessis showed just what a massive influence he can be at hooker in the big win over England that saved the last overseas tour from going down as a complete disaster.

But Smit can be accommodated at loosehead prop if he has to be, and if there is a time when a player’s leadership ability may be more important than whether he is the best player in his position, then maybe now is it.

Victor Matfield did a good job of ensuring during the last tour that the Boks won more games than they lost. Survival was the name of the game rather than any advancement in the playing style or growth in the Bok game, and the Boks did manage to survive.

Yet there are also too many times for comfort when Matfield makes dubious tactical decisions when under pressure, as was the case late in the lamentable loss to Scotland. The impression was also created during the tour that Matfield had too much of a reliance on the Bulls way and Bulls players. Matfield had a massive say in selection during the tour, which might explain why some Bulls players who weren’t even part of the initial group ended up playing in every test match.

Great player and character though he undeniably is, there are reservations about Matfield’s captaincy that are not there when Smit is the leader of the national group. It is why the lithe version of John Smit that I saw walk past the window of that gym in Durban was an even greater source of encouragement for the coming season than the return to fitness of Fourie du Preez, Heinrich Brussow and Andries Bekker.