SOUTH Africa's 2007 World Cup-winning captain John Smit reckons his country's best chance of recapturing the glory days involves reducing the number of franchises to four, then splitting teams equally between top Northern and Southern Hemisphere competitions.
Smit welcomes the trailblazing entry of the Cheetahs and Kings into this season's new-look PRO14, but sees little benefit in having South Africa's two weakest sides involved.
Instead, the former hooker has called for the traditional powerhouses of the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers to be beefedup and unleashed world-wide when Super Rugby's current television deals and participation agreements reach their conclusion in 2020.
Smit told The Rugby Paper: “The move north is a good thing, but unfortunately it's the two franchises that have the least amount of quality and smallest budgets.
“Entering into a Northern Hemisphere competition where budgets are ten times stronger is going to have a significant influence. It will be tough for the Kings and Cheetahs but hopefully SARU will have the foresight to bolster them with some national players.
“Long-term, though, I do believe South Africa currently has too many franchises and should probably only have four. It's not like we don't have enough money coming in from broadcasting, but at the moment the quality within our teams is spread too thinly.
“If we were clever, we would probably want to have two strong, wellfunded franchises in a Southern Hemisphere tournament that would contain no more than 12 teams, and have two competitive sides in the north to compete against the likes of Saracens, Clermont and Munster, either within existing leagues or the Champions Cup.
“Some people may accuse me of wanting my bread buttered on both sides but we have the ability to do all of this because of the time zones involved.” South Africa are currently seen as outsiders to reclaim the World Cup in 2019.
Smit speaking at the launch of Rugby Centurions and before yesterday's hammeringby the All Blacks, said: “Last year was pretty abysmal for South Africa, not just results-wise but also in the attitude of the team.
“There didn't seem to be any massive energy to feel the pain of losses and resurrect things, but this season we've seen the introduction of some new leadership with Brendan Venter and all of a sudden there's a culture and a team who care for each other.
“If we were playing in a World Cup right now, I'd say we couldn't win it. But if this team continues with the progress it's made against France, Argentina and Australia and we can up our win rate against New Zealand again, we'll have a chance.
“The current group of players is committed until 2019 so we don't have to worry about losing players to Europe, and South Africa will always go into a World Cup with confidence. We win it every 12 years (1995 and 2007) so the next one's ours!”
One man Smit expects to prove a thorn in South Africa's side over the next two years is England and Lions hooker Jamie George, whom he once mentored at Saracens during an influential spell at the north London club between 2011 and 2013.
Smit believes George now ranks with the world's best, adding: “He's got to be up there and while people talk about his meteoric rise, they forget the patience he showed when playing behind Schalk Brits and myself, so his attitude has got him where he is.
“He was always going to be an international, it was just a question of when, but he soaked up every bit of information, picked up every tip, watched every move and learned from those ahead of him rather than become frustrated by it. Now we've got to compare Jamie with the best French and New Zealand hookers and the new South Africa hooker, Malcolm Marx.
“The good thing about Jamie, though, is he's an unbelievably good dart thrower so his set-piece is untouchable and there are no basic weaknesses.”
Meanwhile, Smit is the figurehead for Rugby Centurions, which will see all 53 current men and women with 100 Test caps or more working together, with World Rugby's backing, to raise funds for grassroots projects across the globe.
Rugby greats like Bryan Habana, George Gregan, Jason Leonard and Richie McCaw are all involved. www.rugbycenturions.com
