a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://rugbydump.blogspot.com/2009/09/springbok-john-smits-big-hit-on-all.html"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Z0GMBaSoOOM/Sq9z2C0H7YI/AAAAAAAADYE/OQ4Q3IT9ehU/s400/john-smit-hit-brad-thorn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381647452036656514" border="0" //aspan style="font-weight: bold;"A few years back, sectors of the South African media and public were calling for John Smit to be axed as Springbok captain. Jake White stuck with him though, and Smit has had the last laugh, with World Cup, British amp; Irish Lions, and Tri Nations victories under his belt. /spanbr /br /Moving from hooker to prop in recent times, Smit has had his critics over his perceived weakness in the scrums. He silenced them on Saturday as he held his own against the powerful Tony Woodcock.br /br /"You always get a massive boost when you blast over the ball after the opposition has opted for a scrum, and that was a turning point,"' Smit said in his post-match reaction.br /br /Smit was courageous on Saturday. His face was a mess with blood flowing all match. He took a few massive knocks, one from a head collision with his teammate Schalk Burger, and then he got smashed by Isaac Ross.br /br /He soldiered on though, and put in this crunching hit on All Black enforcer Brad Thorn, who famously dumped him in last years test in Wellington. That tackle caused the injury that meant Smit wasn