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John Smit

John Smit

South African former rugby union player

Aug 25, 2026

27:29
... between both halves?
27:31
Yeah, Kieran, I reckon it was...
27:33
I mean, I sat next to Francois Louw watching the game, and, uh, it did, it f- it just, it sort of felt like halftime.
27:40
We got to halftime, it did feel like we'd, um, you know, been writing the exam for three hours.
27:45
That was the, the, the sort of the, the, the tenseness of the game.
27:49
And, um, we were sort of like trying to l- to give a, a thought as to where we, where we felt the team was at.
27:55
And it felt like we had the upper hand or it felt like we had the momentum at halftime.
31:55
Do you think that Springboks, for all this evolution in the way they've been playing with this bit of razzle-dazzle, might go back to that territory, aerial, scrum lineout, suffocating style game in Cape Town and, and just be combative? 'Cause the, the physicality, you'd have to say they probably won over the 80 minutes.
68:44
Aye.
68:44
They just haven't had the results to back it up.
68:47
Uh, one week's a very, very long time, um, in rugby.
68:51
I mean, things can change, and what this group has done is been able to consistently beat, beat good teams, um, and win under pressure, uh, and go over ...
69:01
I mean, last year's November tour was incredible.
69:03
Uh, and I think it's, for the first time we've really have, have been able to collaborate a lot of talent, um, have a squad of 50 to 60 players every year that, that has an opportunity to, to compete in the environment, learn the environment, and then not be surprised when they get selected, and certainly not, and not be, not be unaware of what to do.
69:25
That's set it.
70:28
Um, what's your view on why they've not kicked on? And you were the, you were there with Steve as well, Steve Borthwick, the England head coach.

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