THE only thing that is likely to be on Springbok captain John Smit’s mind at the moment is how they can possibly overcome the Wallabies in Brisbane this Saturday, but on his return to Durban, he is set to resume contractual negotiations with the Sharks.
Article with compliments to the Daily News.
Rumours have been buzzing around for some time predominantly linking Smit with a possible move to the Lions, where former Sharks coach and current Bok assistant coach Dick Muir is trying to re-build the franchise into a formidable force once again.
Smit’s Sharks contract is up at the end of the 2010 season, and with the Springboks set to have a few weeks break between this weekend’s Tri-Nations test and their next, Sharks commercial manager Rudolf Straeuli said they were keen to sit down with Smit.
“We are waiting to meet with John once he returns from overseas. He’s said that he hasn’t committed to anyone else and that he’ll come to see us when he’s back. So that should happen in the next couple of weeks.”
A source close to the Bok captain confirmed to the Daily News that interest in acquiring the services of Smit had been expressed by the Lions and from other quarters, but that the 32-year-old was in fact likely to re-sign with the Sharks.
Meanwhile, Absa Currie Cup captain Stefan Terblanche will lead an unchanged run-on side against the Pumas tomorrow night at the Absa Stadium, in what will be his 100th Currie Cup appearance (25 with Boland and the rest for the Sharks).
The successful starting lineup from last weekend remains entirely intact, while there is just a solitary change on the bench, where Willem Alberts returns from injury to replace Skholiwe Ndlovu.
Sharks coach
John Plumtree said it was important to reward the players with reselection after they performed so well against the Blue Bulls.
“We’ve talked about how if you front up, you’ve got a great chance of being selected and I thought everyone deserved to be re-selected this week. That’s the kind of environment I want to create, where there is healthy competition for places. If you don’t perform, you don’t get picked and this was one game where everybody really stood up. We do have some guys returning from injury, which is great news for us, but they are going to have to work to get back into this team.”
Alberts is one of those that will have to work his way back off the bench, but he is set to have an extended run in the second half “with a view to giving him some game time ahead of the match against the Cheetahs next week”.
For the most part, though, Plumtree said it was crucial for combinations to settle.
@ Boerboel:Naand maat.
@ 4man:86 – 4man always thought Quicksilver was a saffa brand and Billabong a Aussie brand. Well you live and learn…lol.
Then thanks to you that he is still here. Used to hate those bluebottles. Got stung a few times myself. Not that bad though.
@ Boerboel:
Hi Boerboel, this is turning into the over 30’s slot!! 😆
(Over 30 and then some) !!! Hehehheh
It might be the right thing for John Smit to go to the Lions…it gives Bismarck a career path and John can do a lot of good at a franchise that needs good leadership and he is probably ready for a new challenge. At the end of the day, he was from Rustenburg and went to school at Pretoria boys high, so its not like its a foreign land for him. Thats why the Bulls players react to him too in the Bok squad….then he can come and coach the Sharks later on.
Hi Puma and 4Man, how are you guys? I’m having a nice Greek meal in Sandton.
Puma, I got no problem with your point, unfortunately half SA don’t agree.
@ 4man:
Blue bottles are flies over here….what are they in your home country?
@ Blue Bird:
thats not the point the point is js as if any one realy believed he would leave the sharks.btw was at the last 4 billabong pro’s in jay bay
@ 4man:74 – Yip saw it. I don’t keep up much with the surfing anymore. Just that I read about him a day before the final and on Monday that he won it. Think it was on TV well it would have been but was too busy watching the Open.
@ Puma:Both are Aussie brands. Gotcha is SA and the other one….the factory shop is on the corner there in Percy Osborn road, camt remember it now. Just down the road from my ex flat.
Hi BLUE sexy! You mean over 39s?
Have you seen the Saffa papers today, Percy is telling the Boks not to kick so wildly!!
YOU TELL EM PERCY….!!
The kicking coach telling them NOT to kick!!
@ Blue Bird:For blue bottle read “portuguese man o war” its a fish thing 😉
@ Boerboel:95 – Boerboel enjoy it. Are you in Sandton Square? A great Greek restaurant there.
I think John will be very valuable not only now but after he has finished his playing days. Look at Percy and Os right now, they are there helping the Boks. We need that from John after he has stopped playing too. We need to keep those rugby brains right here in SA Boerboel.
@ Boerboel:Whatcha doing in the “big smoke”
@ Boerboel:
Hahahah, have you been looking at my party photos on Facebook???
Did you spot 4man, about 2 feet taller than everyone else!! 😉
Puma, no in Katherine st.
4man, fuckall work in CPT.
@ Blue Bird:101 – Actually that is funny….hahahaha. (The kicking coach telling em not to kick…….LOL)
@ 4man:102 – You wont explain that word “Portuguese man of War” is Blue Bottles here to a Brit…….LOL.
@ 4man:
As a land lubber I understand that is a jellyfish!!
Eukkkkk……….imagine swimming into a jelly fish…..!!! Fark..
@ Blue Bird:The English are small people….come to think of it….everyone is small people 🙂
@ Boerboel:106 – Boerboel, then don’t know that Greek restaurant, but the restaurants in Joburg are normally top class. So enjoy it.
@ Boerboel:
Avoid the Kleftico, made of tough old sheep!! 😆
@ Blue Bird: Well its similar, it is blue and has a little bubble for a head and the tentacles hang down about 6ft, when they get into the surf then they get flung all over the place and unlike a jelly fish, you dont really see them. We get jelly fish there too….main food of leatherback turtles, they take big bites out of them.
@ Blue Bird:108 – BB, A tiny kinda jelly fish. The size of the top of your thumb with a long tail that stings.
@ Boerboel:You should go and chow in the former DF Malan drive (Beyers Naude new name) the restaurants are as good and better priced. Is there any graft in Jo-burg, my understanding is all the professions are well employed all over Africa, but SA doesnt need anymore infrasturcture, unless you want government contracts then you’ve got to be BEE.
82@4man…. nope and you? born and bred in the “old Tvl”
@ 4man:
@ Puma:
I will avoid it at all costs…!!!
Sounds like one of those pointless creatures that was put on this earth, like the wasp!!
@ J.M.E.:My people are Natal Germans, but I lived in the Tvl for a while, my Dad was on the mines, I went to Parktown boys until Std 8 then back to Durban (1968) and you?
109@4man I can vouch for that…. Englishmen are mostly small but some very wide… lol
Nice to catch up chaps….Stuff to do now the storm has stopped.
We must meet up like this again, RT is too quiet these days in the evenings…..and I rarely can blog during the day, quite miss a good blog now and again!
So come back soon all of you.
Over and Out!! 🙂
@ 4man:99 – Okay, Know the Gotcha Brand.
They have changed all the street names here 4man. Even I am totally confused finding some roads here now. Every name has been changed to Zulu. I should learn Zulu really. All my neigbours can speak Zulu having been born and bred in Durbs. Remember I only came to live here in 81 was born and bred in Joburg.
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