Cape Town – Chris Barend Smit hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons at the start of the season, but his positive influence has become evident in the Blue Bulls side recently.
When he started out the season for the Bulls against the Cheetahs in a friendly match in Bloemfontein in September, Smit – having moved to Pretoria from Bloemfontein in the off-season – brought out a big dive to score under the posts after collecting a superb Morné Steyn chip into space.
But as he landed, he lost the ball in the air and then landed on it, which winded him. At the same time, his head made awkward contact with the ground, and he had to be taken off on a stretcher – and the try was not awarded.
The 27-year-old has put that unfortunate incident behind him, though, and after a tough couple of months where the Bulls lost 10 consecutive matches across all competitions, things are looking up for the Pretoria side once more.
The full-strength URC side beat Griquas 40-3, which was followed by the 24-20 Currie Cup win over the Sharks in Durban and a 78-12 annihilation of Zebre.
Smit had a frustrating outing in the 32-28 defeat to the Griffons in Welkom previously, where almost everything he tried on attack just didn’t come off.
But now the former Maties back, who is not shy to have a full go with ball-in-hand, is enjoying his rugby again. “I like to play rugby! I play what I see, and Coach Sean (Everitt) and Coach Hugo (van As) and Coach Jake (White) gives us that freedom to play what we see,” Smit said this week ahead of tonight’s Currie Cup clash against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld (6.30pm kickoff).
“So, hopefully with more game-time and time on the field, it will just get better. But I like to play… and sometimes play too much! But just to find that balance will be critical.
“I’ve played 12 since leaving school, where I played a bit of 10. So, I am comfortable at 10 as well, but I would say at 12, I find it much easier and it’s more in my comfort zone.
“It’s been a challenge playing at 10 and slotting in there, but the team needed me there at that time and I will do whatever the team need to perform on the day.”
White made a couple of changes to the Currie Cup team yesterday, handing England lock Charlie Ewels his debut, while WJ Steenkamp will start at No 8 as captain Nizaam Carr is out with concussion – with young flank Reinhardt Ludwig taking over the leadership role.
There is also a new fullback in Juan Mostert, who comes in for Franco Knoetze.
The Lions will be eager to get back on track after going down to Griquas at Ellis Park last week, but while Smit is well aware of the Joburg side’s all-out attacking strategy, he feels the Bulls can also improve from the win over the Sharks.
“It was a process (after losing 10 matches in a row)… Changing small stuff in our game and how we want to play and approach the game. We are starting to find that balance at the moment, and not making excuses, but it was difficult – some guys in, some guys out,” Smit said.
“And for our team that played against the Sharks last weekend, it was nice to actually finally have a full prep with one team. Our defensive effort was quite good, and hopefully this weekend, we can do more of the same – and on attack, improve where we were lacking, as we left about three or four tries out there that we could’ve scored.
“On the training pitch and on the field, we are starting to learn more about each other… myself playing with Morné at 10 was probably the second time now, and with Lionel (Mapoe) and Wandi (Simelane), we are a new backline and have some exciting guys in our backline.
“But it was just maybe over-eagerness and wanting to score too quickly, and with the final pass not sticking. Hopefully this weekend we can have a bit more patience, and some of the guys can do their magic and we can score some good tries on Saturday.”
Teams For Loftus Versfeld
Blue Bulls: 15 Juan Mostert 14 Sibongile Novuka 13 Lionel Mapoe 12 Chris Barend Smit 11 Wandisile Simelane 10 Morné Steyn 9 Zak Burger 8 WJ Steenkamp 7 Reinhardt Ludwig (captain) 6 Cameron Hanekom 5 Charlie Ewels 4 Jacques du Plessis 3 Sebastian Lombard 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels 1 Simphiwe Matanzima.
Bench: 16 Tiaan Lange 17 Jacques van Rooyen 18 Robert Hunt 19 Merwe Olivier 20 Mihlali Mosi 21 Bernard van der Linde 22 Cornal Hendricks 23 Kabelo Mokoena.
Lions: 15 Vaughen Isaacs 14 Prince Nkabinde 13 Stean Pienaar 12 Tyler Bocks 11 Boldwin Hansen 10 Tiaan Swanepoel 9 Nico Steyn 8 Travis Gordon 7 Jarod Cairns 6 Renzo du Plessis 5 Darrien Landsberg 4 Raynard Roets 3 Ruan Smith 2 Jaco Visagie 1 Sti Sithole.
Bench: 16 Michael van Vuuren 17 Kayden Kiewit 18 Kabous Bezuidenhout 19 PJ Steenkamp 20 Emmanuel Tshituka 21 Cal Smid 22 André Warner 23 Rynhardt Jonker.
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