Smit moves to home from home at Saracens
Saracens. They are an English club by name who continually compete for top domestic honours in the gruelling slug-fest that is the Aviva Premiership, But recently, the much maligned and criticised Sarries have been nicknamed 'Saffacens' due to the high number of playing members arriving from South African shores. With time, this is a club starting to make their Vicarage Road stadium a home from home for those brought up in the rugby mad Rainbow Nation. You may ask why they have a new-found South African identity, a spine of key personnel through the core of their side?
Bankrolled by a wealthy South African businessman and formally coached by ex Springbok Brendan Venter, Saracens have created a new identity for themselves having taken advantage of the high number of African expats now living around their Watford base. Looking to continually grow in terms of high profile, marquee player signings, their supposed next South African capture speaks volumes about where this club is going.
Regardless of the national make-up of their playing squad, any club can surely find room for a Currie Cup, Super 15, Lions and World Cup winning captain. John Smit, the proud South African hooker-cum prop for many a year, over a decade, has decided to leave his native homeland and once again venture into competitive northern hemisphere rugby with an emerging European force. If the speculation amongst the rugby community is true, Smit shall sign an 18 month contract beginning after he has defended the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand later on this year.
First and foremost, Smit is a quality player and a genuine person. On and off the pitch, he is a true gentleman. He plays rugby how it should be played, in the right spirit. He always plays fairly and is a true and dedicated professional, a great role model for our game.
Just ask Phil Vickery. The former rampaging English prop was once asked during an interview 'In your vast playing experience, who do you admire and respect the most as an individual, and who has been the toughest front row to scrum against?' His reply? 'It has to be John Smit, the South Africa captain. He has been criticised but kept his head down and keeps playing. He can play tighthead or loosehead and is very talented. He is also a great guy and competitor who I have met and liked as well respected'.
Having the respect from your peers and fellow rugby players is a special thing, a special moment to realise you have achieved enough in your sporting field to be singled out by fellow professionals as a great leader of men. Smit is renowned for being born to lead. He is an experienced front row forward with great versatility able to fill in internationally at both hooker and prop with adequate ease. He has over 100 caps for his proud South African nation and is renowned as one of the greatest hookers of his generation, combining sheer passion with brute strength and drive.
Moving overseas, stepping out of his comfort zone, is not something new for Smit. After the 2007 Rugby World Cup, he signed a two year contract with Clemont Auvergne in the Top 14 only to leave one year in and re-sign with the Natal Sharks, a province whom he has had a long and successful relationship with. A country once torn about by political strife and governmental issues, Smit has held it together and come through as one of the greatest sportsman Africa has ever produced. He is held in the highest regard in his homeland and is sure to by missed by coaches, players and spectators alike. Captaining the Springboks, with all the political aggrow attached, is a hard job yet he has done a fine job to keep the team, and the country, together.
But you have to ask the question, why move to Saracens? Well, for starters, he is moving to a club with a strong South African presence already current. To name but a few, Smit won't be short of company with the likes of fellow countryman Schalk Brits, Mouritz Botha, Ernst Joubert and Neil de Kock making sure Smit is fully settled in to his new surroundings.
A rival in the past for country and now for club, Brits has been a revelation since joining Sarries. He has been a stand out performer in the Premiership over the past season and has earned rave reviews from all round, being nominated for Player of the Year. Due to his outstanding individual form, it appears as if Smit has been signed as a prop to play alongside Brits, and to not replace him.
It is a clear and shrewd move by the club, a major coup and statement of intent. This is not a flash in the pan, this is a signing to suggest this club are seriously going places. You don't sign a player of the calibre of John Smit to come second. He sure to go down in Springbok history as one of the greatest ever to pull on that green and gold jersey.
Signing for the club provides Smit with fresh challenges. He brings leadership and experience and is known, as Phil Vickery pointed out, as an extremley tough competitor. He is consistant at set-piece and gets through a mountain of work around the park. But his famed asset, what he has been idolised for, is his leadership skills. A warhorse veteren, this born leader is now approaching the twilight of his career.
At the age of 33, there may not be much left in the old legs. If he was tempted to come to these shores by a large pay packet at the end of his career, then fair play. You cannot begrudge him of anything the way he has conducted himself in the limelight. You have to respect him for what he has achieved in the game with his 18 month contract suggesting he shall return to the Super 15 for one final hurrah back home before finally calling it a day and hanging up his boots. I feel he can make a real impression at Saracens.
A good move for all involved, if it happens, it shall be intriguing to watch the progress of Smit, Saracens and the fellow South Africans in months to come.
