Why John Smit is still hot

Sometimes the best way to find out what the man on the street is thinking about rugby is to watch a game at a pub.

I did that with the Springboks' pool game against Samoa last Friday, and to me it appeared the John Smit versus Bismarck du Plessis debate was finally laid to rest.

With the Boks on the ropes, the coaching team couldn't take any more and brought Smit on in the 69th minute.

As the big fella trundled onto the field, the pub - whose nerves were also shot by now - stood as one and applauded.

That he played no significant role in the game after he was sin-binned for a deliberate knockdown two minutes later is a story for another day.

The moral of that story is that we might love banging on about how Smit is not fit to tie Bismarck's bootlaces, but when the brown stuff hits the fan he's the only person we can trust to steady the Bok ship.

The one thing that emerged at the Samoa game was that the moment things do not go according to plan, his deputy, Victor Matfield, becomes just another member of the team.

If you don't believe that, think Scotland last year.

Some might be asking what this has to do with the altogether different battle between Smit and "Bissy". The short answer is: if Smit is to do what he does best, which is lead the Boks, he has to start.

Many might suggest starting with Smit digs a hole for the Boks, which requires miracles from Bismarck to get the team over the line when he finally comes on in the second half.

The truth is that in this age of impact players, you can afford to start a test match with the wrong personnel. What you can't really afford is to turn up for a quarterfinal with the wrong mindset.

Smit might not have Bismarck's gifts, but he's perfected the art of getting the Bok team psychologically ready by knowing which buttons to push with each individual player before the game starts.

For want of a better word, Smit is a politician. He reads people well and uses whatever he gleans from them to get what he wants.

Without raking too much over old coals, think back to the famous speech in the quarterfinal against Fiji, or that dressing room pep-talk ahead of the 42-6 annihilation of England in 2008.

Smit uses everything, not just playing talent, at his disposal to win rugby matches.

How many people spotted Smit having a warm and longish chat with touch-judge Bryce Lawrence at the conclusion of the Springboks' match against Namibia during the pool games?

With Lawrence suddenly turning up as the referee for the quarterfinal against Australia, who's to say the niceties with a referee who has shafted South African teams before was not premeditated to work the 50/50 if he ended up officiating the Boks?

Smit was also refreshingly honest in breaking ranks with other captains this week by admitting that the knockout stages of the World Cup made him a nervous wreck.

It was also a sly message to his team that now was the time to be on edge because the greatest performances come from being in that state.

If the All Blacks are anything to go by, World Cups are not won by the best teams. They are won by teams who do the right things at the right time under pressure. Smit almost always makes the right calls when those moments arise.

That's why your average punter gives him a standing ovation when he gets onto the park.