Special Boks 'to empty Wallabies tank' - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Special Boks 'to empty Wallabies tank'

By Darren Walton 05/08/2009 03:01:39 PM Comments (0)

Springboks captain John Smit has challenged his troops to "empty the tank" at Newlands on Saturday to ensure the world champions maintain their unbeaten start to the Tri Nations with victory over the Wallabies.

Having taken care of the All Blacks in back-to-back Tests in Bloemfontein and Durban, Smit says it's imperative the Boks lift again and depart South Africa for their tough three-match tour of Australia and New Zealand with an undefeated record in the series.

"It's almost two tournaments really," Smit said. "For us, it's a home leg and then a big break and then the away leg.

"Yesterday was a day we had to refresh and to get into the pool and give the bodies a chance after two big games against the All Blacks.

"I'm sure the guys will look forward to the break but every week is the same thing: we've got to empty the tank every time we get a chance to."

Smit, who on Saturday surpassed Australian George Gregan and England's Will Carling as the most-capped captain of all-time with 60 Tests as Springboks skipper, claimed his all-conquering outfit wasn't feeling any pressure to perform - despite some believing it is on the way to becoming the best team ever.

"We'd like to believe that we are a team that can keep on stepping it up," he said.

"So we push ourselves pretty hard during the week so that we can allow every weekend to be a better performance and we allow the intensity to be up every single time we play.

"So many traps to fall in. The trouble with winning is the more you do it, the more you need to do it as well.

"The pressure with that is stronger within the team not to let each other down than it is from outside the team."

The hooker-turned-tighthead said the bond the Boks had developed over the past four or five seasons together made being part of the world champion line-up a delight, something special.

"We've seen this team come a long way," Smit said.

"With each and every day the guys spend together and the more time they spend together, things become easier.

"Experience is something that is quite difficult to attain and once you've gone through the hard yards of getting it together and getting the core of a team, I mean the coach has been picking a side with over 600 caps for quite some time now.

"Those are the kind of things that really do help in a Test-match environment.

"When you get consistency in every weekend, it makes preparation during the week a lot easier because you're repeating a lot of things with the same players. So that's the best way to create habits.

"At the moment, it's a pretty good place to be."

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